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Abortion rights potential roadblock for Giuliani in South Carolina debate |
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By Sam Youngman
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Posted: 05/14/07 07:31 PM [ET] |
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R), who just finished a week on the campaign trail nearly dominated by his position on abortion rights, likely will find himself tested again on the issue at tonight’s debate in South Carolina.
Giuliani’s support for abortion rights, despite his stated moral objections to the procedure, may be unwelcome in a state where much of the GOP is defined by religious and social conservatism, analysts say.
“He’s going to have a hard time with the Republican Party here in South Carolina,” an expert on reproductive politics at the University of South Carolina, Laura Woliver, said.
Giuliani has been dogged by questions about his positions on a number of issues, including abortion, gay rights and gun control. His statements on abortion constituted one of the more memorable moments from the Republican candidates’ first debates earlier this month in California.
Planned Parenthood is planning a rally outside tonight’s debate site at the University of South Carolina, and although the group said it hopes to press the Republican candidates into “the mainstream,” there was no bad-mouthing of Giuliani. He has donated to the group in the past.
“We appreciate his support over the years,” a spokeswoman for the group, Carol McDonald-Dixon, said. “He appears to be … taking a stand against the small but vocal and powerful minority within the party.”
Such support may not be welcome in the Palmetto State, Woliver said.
“That’s not going to sit well here,” she said. “In the Republican primary, Giuliani is really stepping into heated territory. This is a state where [Sen. John] McCain is questionable. That’s how conservative the Republican cadre is here.”
The former mayor offered his strongest defense of his positions on social issues in a speech Friday at Houston Baptist University, focusing primarily on counterterrorism and fiscal conservatism.
Giuliani then explained the nuances of his reasoning on social issues.
“For some people, any one of these issues may be a single issue on which they say, we will or we cannot vote for someone,” the mayor said. “That’s perfectly acceptable.”
Giuliani said he hopes Republicans instead will focus on issues on which they agree.
“I think we made it pretty clear where the mayor stands last Friday, and I don’t think he’s afraid to answer questions about it,” Giuliani spokeswoman Maria Comella said.
Giuliani’s defense of abortion rights, predicated in part on his stated belief in states’ rights, could convince South Carolina Republicans if they notice and appreciate the nuance, Woliver said.
She added, however, that that is unlikely given the realities of presidential politics in the state. |
