Religious Right Divides Its Vote

Christian conservatives have ended a two day summit in Washington still undecided over which Republican candidate to back in the forthcoming Republican nomination for President.

But there's certainly no hiding the fact that, amongst these particular conservatives, Rudi Giuliani is far from their favourite.

“I don’t think the question is anywhere close to settled,” said Gary L. Bauer, an influential Christian conservative leader and former Republican candidate himself in 2000. “I think it’s going to play out over the next several months.”

Out of 5,775 votes cast, Mr. Romney won 27.6 percent; Mr. Huckabee, 27.1 percent; Ron Paul, 15 percent; Fred D. Thompson, 9.8 percent. Mr. Giuliani finished second to last, with less than 2 percent of the vote, and Senator John McCain of Arizona finished last among the nine candidates.

And this poor showing was despite the fact that his speech to the delegates had actually gone down rather well:

Mr. Giuliani spoke for about 40 minutes, twice his allotted time. The response was gracious and even warm, despite his own acknowledgment that members of the audience probably had serious differences with him. Nevertheless, he highlighted his willingness to be forthright and cast himself as more principled than his primary opponents, insisting he would not bend and sway to the political winds.

Mr. Giuliani took a thinly veiled shot at his rival, Mr. Romney, whose campaign has been vigorously courting social conservatives but has battled skepticism about his authenticity.

“Isn’t it better that I tell you what I really believe, instead of pretending to change all of my positions to fit the prevailing winds?” Mr. Giuliani asked, drawing murmurs of approval and applause from the audience.

Mr. Giuliani talked about his Roman Catholic upbringing, attendance of parochial schools and even how he flirted with entering the seminary. (“I know that’s hard to believe,” he joked.) He admitted to being private about his faith because of the way he was raised but said his reliance on God for guidance was at the “core of who I am.” He did not mention that he does not regularly attend church anymore.

Mr. Giuliani spoke with a tone of humility, saying, “I come to you today as I would if I were your president, with an open mind and an open heart, and all I ask is that you do the same.

“Please know this,” he added. “You have absolutely nothing to fear from me.”

Giuliani's personal life and his support for abortion and gay rights were always going to make him winning over this particular crowd next to impossible and there is some indication that, fine as his speech was, there are some who are never going to warm to him.

But Rick Scarborough, an influential conservative leader who heads the group Vision America, said Mr. Giuliani may have succeeded in defusing that possibility with his strong performance Saturday. “He might have derailed the effort to a third party today,” Mr. Scarborough said. But he added that he would still do all he could to “prevent him from getting the nomination.”

Perhaps, derailing a third party - which would almost certainly split the conservative vote and ensure Hillary Clinton's victory - is the best that Giuliani could hope to take from the proceedings.

I can only say that, watching this from across the pond, it strikes me as astonishing that any political party would tie itself to a religious movement in this way. It might guarantee a certain share of the vote, but it is certainly extremely limiting in the kind of candidates that one is allowed to put before the electorate as a potential president.

It really does highlight the profound differences between Britain and the United States. In this country Blair was always encouraged to play down his religious beliefs with Alastair Campbell famously refusing to allow Blair to finish his address to the nation at the start of the Iraq war with the message: "God bless you."

Indeed, Campbell went as far as to interrupt Blair during an interview which strayed onto religion:

The magazine's writer, David Margolick, asked the Prime Minister about his religion and the extent that it bonded him to President George W. Bush. At that point Mr Campbell, who was present throughout but had until then not been involved in the conversation, asked Mr Blair: "Is he [Mr Margolick] on God?"

According to Mr Margolick's account, when it became clear that the subject had indeed turned to religion, Mr Campbell intervened again. "We don't do God," he stated. "I'm sorry. We don't do God."

Britain and the United States may share a language, but we remain very different country's. As Giuliani's present difficulties amply illustrate.

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Tags: Rudi Giuliani, Christian conservatives, Republican nomination, 2008 election