The Washington Times reports today that "several leading Christian conservatives" say they will support former Sen. Fred Thompson in the race for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination.
A prominent Roman Catholic social conservative says the three Republicans who have raised the most money and have led the polls -- former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, Arizona Sen. John McCain and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney -- fall short of social conservatives' expectations, but Mr. Thompson doesn't. "He's right on the issues ... He's better than all of the above."
Both the Protestant and Catholic activist, like other Christian conservatives, spoke to The Times on the condition of anonymity. They say their support for Mr. Thompson is shared by like-minded conservatives, though the sentiment is not unanimous in their circles. Many born-again Christians are said to be skeptical of Mr. Giuliani's views on abortion and same-sex "marriage," of Mr. Romney's change of position on abortion and of his Mormon religious faith, and of Mr. McCain's advocacy of campaign-finance reforms that restrict speech and issues-advocacy ads.
Mr. Thompson, whose celebrity is based on his television and movie acting roles as well as his tenure as a senator from Tennessee, has consistently opposed abortion rights, but until recently had backed campaign-finance laws unpopular with advocacy groups on both the right and left.
The move toward Mr. Thompson was said to have been afoot before Mr. Giuliani, the Republican front-runner in the early polls, announced last week that he supports abortion rights, restrictions on the ownership of guns, and the legal recognition of same-sex unions with some of the benefits and privileges of marriage.
"It's the moment of truth for conservatives," says one of the Christian conservative activists. "Either social conservatives rally to stop a Giuliani nomination and victory for him in November 2008 or our issues -- abortion, same-sex marriage, the preservation of the family -- are permanently off the Republican Party agenda."
... The Christian conservative figures say they are favorably impressed by Mr. Thompson's wife, [Jeri] Kehn, a full-time mother of two young Thompson children. She formerly was on the staff of the Senate Republican Conference and the Republican National Committee.
This is bad news for a number of social-conservative Republicans in the GOP field, especially Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.
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