New York Times Examines Split Of Religious Conservative Leaders On Republican Presidential Primary

Main Category: Abortion
Also Included In: Public Health;  Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 10 Oct 2007 - 5:00 PDT

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The New York Times on Sunday examined the divergence of religious conservative voters over which Republican presidential candidate to support, as well as whether to support a third-party candidate if Republicans nominate an abortion-rights supporter, such as former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (Goodstein, New York Times, 10/7). Almost everyone present at a meeting of a group of Christian conservatives late last month 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.

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 (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 10/5). Religious conservative leaders, who say they are debating privately whether to support a candidate based on "viability" or "purity," might still "try to anoint" one of the current Republican candidates. However, some religious conservatives sense that "their issues are no longer at the forefront" and "fear they may have lapsed unwittingly into" a role of a "dependable minority constituency that is courted by candidates but never really gets to call the shots," the Times reports (New York Times, 10/7).

Opinion Pieces

• E.J. Dionne, Washington Post: Although the threat by some "religious right" leaders to "bolt" the Republican Party if it nominates a candidate who supports abortion rights is a sign that the "religious right is in trouble," a more important sign is that a "new generation of evangelical leaders" is "breaking away from the culture wars," Post columnist Dionne writes in an opinion piece. According to Dionne, a group of leaders organized by the progressive group Third Way is taking "a step toward religious conservatives by acknowledging the legitimacy of many of their moral concerns" and calling for the "bridging the cultural divide between progressives and evangelicals" on issues such as abortion, reproductive cloning and stem cell research. The "question for the future is how many in the evangelical ranks will embrace this call," Dionne writes (Dionne, Washington Post, 10/9).
  
  
• James Dobson, New York Times: "Winning the presidential election is vitally important, but not at the expense of what [conservative Christians] hold most dear," Dobson writes in a Times opinion piece. According to Dobson, there is "divergence" among some social conservative voters "about our choices for president," but that is "hardly indicative" of the media's characterization that "the conservative Christian movement is hopelessly fractured and internally antagonistic." Dobson concludes, "If the major political parties decide to abandon conservative principles, the cohesion of pro-family advocates will be all too apparent in 2008" (Dobson, New York Times, 10/4).
  
  
• Kathleen Parker, Albany Times Union: "Instead of supporting the candidate who most shares" their values -- former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) -- social conservative leaders "seem hell-bent for the proverbial cliff," Washington Post Writers' Group columnist Parker writes in a Times Union opinion piece. If the leaders "were smarter, they'd embrace Romney as the one who can beat" Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), who is running for the Democratic presidential nomination, "because he, more than anyone else, unites all wings of the party -- economic, security and social," Parker concludes (Parker, Albany Times Union, 10/7).

Letter to Editor

• Jennifer Blei-Stockman, New York Times: Dobson's "thinly veiled threat to take votes away from the GOP" is "not only wrong, but desperate," Blei-Stockman, co-chair of the Republican Majority for Choice, writes in a Times letter to the editor. "The real Republican majority is socially tolerant and is demanding a return to the core issues that have historically defined the Republican Party: real economic growth, cutting government waste and ensuring the safety of Americans at home and abroad," Blei-Stockman concludes (Blei-Stockman, New York Times, 10/4).

NPR's "Tell Me More" on Friday included a discussion with Richard Cizik, vice president for governmental affairs for the National Association of Evangelicals, about key issues for evangelical voters and the possibility of a third party candidate ("Tell Me More," NPR, 10/5). Audio of the segment 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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