The leaders of the theocratic -- and dominant -- wing of the GOP are lining up against Rudy Giuliani. Tony Perkins, the head of the religious right activist organization Family Research Council, added his name to the Stop-Rudy movement according to The Politico. This is the hard-core GOP base. This is the base to which George Bush and Karl Rove pandered for the past six years. These theocratic leaders do have influence with their flocks so, in the world of those who actually vote in primaries, the base, this matters:
"Speaking as a private citizen, no, no, I could not support (Giuliani)," said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, which has about a half-million members. "The 20 years I've been involved in politics, the life issue has been at the very top. How could I turn my back on that?"NOTE FROM JOHN: A word about "the base." Yes, everyone thinks that the base is going to support the party candidate no matter what, so who cares what the fundies or the gays or the women or the enviros or the pro-lifers want. This may be true, but disaffected voters don't help the candidate in other ways - they don't donate as much money, they don't volunteer, they don't talk up the candidate. This last point is very important if the disaffected voter has influence, i.e., if he or she is someone with a megaphone, someone their friends and colleagues listen to. I wasn't thrilled with John Kerry's presidential candidacy, and was even less thrilled with his flip-flopping on gay issues. I think that lack of gusto for Kerry came across in my writing, and it certainly came across in my pocketbook. If enough people who have an audience, who can influence others, trash talk the candidate up until the last month or two before the election, or at the very least show no zeal for the candidate, that influences others, it also feeds a larger zeitgeist about the candidate. So, yes, many of us, many of them, will vote for their party's candidate regardless, but I really believe that a lack of enthusiasm for the candidate, or outright annoyance with the candidate, can and will have a serious impact on all of those things that matter for victory - money, volunteers, positive press, positive public chatter, momentum, turnout, and even a few votes. And as we've learned all too often of late, a few votes is all the difference between a Bush and a Gore, or a Kerry.
Perkins said that should Giuliani win the nomination, he would vote for a third-party candidate who reflected his values. "It wouldn't be the first time," Perkins added in an interview last week.
Other prominent cultural conservatives to signal public opposition to Giuliani in recent weeks included James Dobson of Focus on the Family, Louis Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition, veteran activist and former presidential candidate Gary Bauer, and Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Like Perkins, Land has warned that he would not vote for a Republican ticket in 2008 if it were led by Giuliani. Others did not go that far, even as they made plain their wish that Giuliani be weeded out in the primaries.
"When I give my support for a candidate, I am giving the green light, if he wins, all the way down the line in terms of so many moral and social issues," said Sheldon, chairman of the Traditional Values Coalition, which represents 43,000 churches. "I'm personally not supporting Giuliani," he added. Sheldon is backing former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in the primaries.
