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Religious Right Considers Third Party To Run Against Giuliani

September 30th, 2007
By JOE GANDELMAN, Editor-In-Chief

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New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani remains the favorite in polls in the 2008 Republican Presidential nomination sweepstakes — but there are rumblings that his luck could run out.

Unlike Arizona Senator John McCain, who has been walking a political tightrope hoping to keep his old supporters and win over old foes — and falling off of the tightrope with politically un-astute statements – Giuliani has been surviving the bumps along the way.

But Salon reports that members of the Religious Right intend to blackball Giuliani and if necessary run a third party candidate against him, if he gets the GOP Presidential nomination:

A powerful group of conservative Christian leaders decided Saturday at a private meeting in Salt Lake City to consider supporting a third-party candidate for president if a pro-choice nominee like Rudy Giuliani wins the Republican nomination.

The meeting of about 50 leaders, including Focus on the Family’s James Dobson, the Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins and former presidential candidate Gary Bauer, who called in by phone, took place at the Grand America Hotel during a gathering of the Council for National Policy, a powerful shadow group of mostly religious conservatives. James Clymer, the chairman of the U.S. Constitution Party, was also present at the meeting, according to a person familiar with the proceedings.

“The conclusion was that if there is a pro-abortion nominee they will consider working with a third party,” said the person, who spoke to Salon on the condition of anonymity. The private meeting was not a part of the official CNP schedule, which is itself a closely held secret. “Dobson came in just for this meeting,” the person said.

Salon notes that this confirms the fears of many GOPers that a Giuliani nomination could split the GOP. Political scientist Larry Sabato mentioned this prospect about a year ago as well in one of his newsletters.

This would present the GOP with a prime dilemma.

If it loses part of its social conservatives, how can it make it up in vote totals when there are now indications that Hispanic and African American voters are not pleased with how they are treated by the key Republican candidates, and polls show the Republican Party losing independent and young voters in droves?

But all wouldn’t be lost for Giuliani if he got the nomination and there was a rightist party running against him.

It would make him look more centrist to some independent voters.

And there is one more factor:

It seems increasingly likely that Ralph Nader is going to make one more leap into the Presidential ring. Read THIS, THIS, …but is he running? Read THIS. But then there’s THIS.

In 2000 Nader insisted there was no difference between the two parties, something that proved slightly inaccurate. In 2004 he ran again, perhaps not with as much influence but some of his idealist aura was destroyed when it emerged that he was accepting money from some Republicans that hoped he’d siphon votes away from Democrats…and his organization defended taking the money.

Can Giuliani stem this possible danger to party unity, if he gets the nomination? His foes aren’t done yet:

Attendees at the Saturday afternoon meeting also discussed the possibility of recruiting another person to run for the Republican nomination, said the person familiar with the proceedings. Several names have already been floated, though no decision on a possible candidate has yet been made, the person said.

But that’s unlikely to work at this late time.

All of this taken together suggests one thing:

If a Giuliani candidacy seems to threaten GOP unity, look for some voters and party bigwigs to get behind another candidate — either actor Fred Thompson or former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. McCain is self-destructing, Ron Paul is not the political pinup guy of Republican insiders and power-brokers.

And look for Ralph Nader to probably get a nice, big infusion of campaign funds, if he runs.



This entry was posted on Sunday, September 30th, 2007 at 11:18 am and is filed under Religious Right, Ralph Nader, Rudy Giuliani, Republicans, 2008 Elections, Politics. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

 
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