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By Alexander Bolton
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Posted: 10/25/07 07:32 PM [ET] |
Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) is considering endorsing Rudy Giuliani for the GOP presidential nomination and will meet with him Thursday in Washington to hear his views on abortion.
Brownback, who ended his White House run last week and is a champion of social conservative issues, said he would consider Giuliani because he had heard that the former New York City mayor had changed his position on partial-birth abortion and has pledged to appoint to the courts strict constructionists who would not overturn anti-abortion laws.
If Brownback pledged his support, it would be a big boost for Giuliani. It might help shore up the biggest perceived weakness of his candidacy — namely, the lack of support among social conservatives because of his stance on abortion.
“I’m going to meet with him and I’m going to talk to him and hear what he is specifically saying now because he’s changed on a number of the abortion issues,” Brownback said in an interview. “He’s changed on partial-birth [abortion] and he … has said he would appoint strict constructionists.”
When asked about Giuliani’s position on allowing women the right to late-term abortions, also known as partial-birth abortions, Brownback said: “He is opposed to it. That’s what I’ve been told indirectly. I want to hear it from him.”
Brownback has not indicated that he is likely to support Giuliani, but he has not ruled it out. He said he is also considering endorsing other top-tier Republican candidates. Several have asked for his support in telephone conversations, and Brownback has already met with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to discuss a possible endorsement.
“I haven’t decided who or if and I haven’t decided when,” said Brownback.
Brownback’s advisers, however, predicted that he would make an endorsement within the next few weeks. It would be a huge boon to any candidate because of the impressive ground operation Brownback has built up in Iowa, site of the first contest of the presidential primary.
Ray Hoffmann, the state Republican chairman, said last month that Brownback and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) had assembled the biggest campaign operations in Iowa after Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who is leading the GOP field in statewide polls. One Brownback adviser said that 45,000 Iowans had signed up as campaign supporters.
Giuliani would gain the most from Brownback’s endorsement because he has consistently encountered opposition from social conservatives owing to his views on abortion. He has drawn strong criticism for reiterating in a televised interview earlier this year his position that the federal government should provide funding for an abortion if a woman could not afford one. Giuliani’s standing atop national polls has scared Christian conservative leaders so much that several prominent leaders threatened last month to support a third-party candidate to block his path to the White House.
Brownback’s support, however, could assuage the concerns of many social conservatives and provide him a path to the Republican nomination.
“It would be absolutely huge,” said Ross K. Baker, a professor of political science at Rutgers University. “It would mean that Giuliani is getting support form a part of the Republican Party that has been hostile to him.
“Brownback is very well-respected,” Baker added. “It would give a lot of social conservatives and evangelicals cover if they want to support Giuliani.”
Karlyn Bowman, a scholar who specializes in public opinion and politics at the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute, said a Brownback endorsement would help Giuliani enormously.
“If true, that would be an enormous coup for Giuliani, especially given what we’ve heard about Brownback’s organization in Iowa,” she said.
Jay Heine, who until this week was Brownback’s Iowa political director, said he could envision Brownback and many of his supporters backing Giuliani because he is widely considered to have the best chances among Republicans of beating the expected Democratic nominee, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.).
“The Republican Party’s spirits are pretty low,” said Heine, noting landslide Democratic victories in the 2006 election. “We’re looking at an environment in Iowa where Democrats are really outworking Republicans. I think a lot of people would be open to [the] Giuliani endorsement because they don’t want to lose to a Democrat.”
Brownback’s former rivals are now scrambling to grab a piece of his campaign infrastructure in Iowa.
Heine said he has been contacted by advisers representing Giuliani, Huckabee, McCain and former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.).
Kim Lehman, president of Iowa Right to Life Committee and a member of the Iowans for Brownback Leadership Committee, said she met with a representative from Huckabee’s campaign Wednesday and has also been contacted by Thompson’s campaign.
“Brownback got quite a bit of Catholic support,” she said. “I’m seeing a lot of people at my end trying to decide which way to go.”
She said that social conservatives are beginning to peel away from Romney as they learn of statements he made in favor of abortion rights when he ran for Massachusetts governor in 2002.
She said she would be stunned if Brownback backed Giuliani.
“I find it simply hard to believe because Giuliani has expressed his position to even pay for abortion,” she said.
Lehman’s son, Zachariah Gordon, who served as pro-life coalition director for Brownback in Iowa, said Huckabee’s campaign has expressed interest in hiring him.
He said it would be “hypocritical” for Brownback to endorse Giuliani or Romney because of their views on abortion.
Iowa sources close to Brownback said his grassroots organizers would try to keep his coalition of support intact until the Kansas senator endorsed a Republican candidate.
One Brownback source predicted the senator would announce his endorsement within the next month.
“We’ve done some internal polling to see where [Brownback supporters] are going to make sure they’re not flocking to someone we’re not going to endorse,” said the source.
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