Romney, Huckabee Respond To Conservative Threats To Run Third-Party Candidate If GOP Nominates Abortion-Rights Supporter

Main Category: Abortion
Also Included In: Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 08 Oct 2007 - 2:00 PDT

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Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who is running for the Republican presidential nomination, has increased his efforts to gain support of Christian conservatives in response to threats by conservative group leaders considering running a third-party presidential candidate if the Republican Party nominates an abortion-rights supporter, such as former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, the Boston Globe reports (Kranish, Boston Globe, 10/5).

Almost everyone present at a meeting of a group of Christian conservatives on Saturday supported the statement, "If the Republican Party nominates a pro-abortion candidate, we will consider running a third-party candidate," some participants at the meeting said (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 10/4).

Romney last week met with about 200 members of the conservative Council for National Policy and assured them of his opposition to abortion rights, the Globe reports.

James Dobson of Focus on the Family on Thursday said that he and other social conservatives had agreed to support a "minor party" candidate if the Republicans chose a nominee who is not conservative enough. According to the Globe, Dobson has "left open the possibility" of supporting Romney but has "ruled out" supporting Giuliani, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) or former Sen. Fred Thompson (Tenn.) (Boston Globe, 10/5).

According to the AP/Google.com, the Log Cabin Republicans, which advocates gay rights, began running an advertisement in Iowa that includes past statements from Romney in which he expressed support for abortion rights. Romney spokesperson Kevin Madden said, "As Governor Romney has repeatedly made clear, like many other Republicans including Ronald Reagan, he wasn't always pro-life," adding, "Governor Romney has said he was wrong and hopes he never stops learning from his mistakes or trying to do what's right" (Kuhnhenn, AP/Google.com, 10/4).

Huckabee Says He Will Not Accept Third Party Candidacy Invitation
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee on Thursday in a washingtonpost.com interview said he would not seek or accept an invitation to run as a third-party presidential candidate from Christian conservative leaders, the Washington Post reports.

"No, I think a third party only helps elect Hillary," Huckabee said, adding, "I don't see that being a good strategy for those who really care about pushing a pro-family, pro-life agenda. If they want to do that, the smart thing to do is coalesce their support around Mike Huckabee. If they do that, I'll become the nominee, I'll win the White House" (O'Keefe, "The Trial," Washington Post, 10/5).

Audio of Huckabee's interview is available online.

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation© 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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