Abortion Foes Wary Of GOP Front-Runners

By The Politico's Jonathan Martin.

"Come off it, guys, this is kind of unseemly," says David Keene, the influential president of the American Conservative Union. "The people you're doing this to aren't stupid. Eventually they'll figure out this is all bull."

Keene's harsh words reflect a harsh reality for the top-tier candidates: Many conservatives consider Arizona Sen. John McCain a less-than-passionate abortion foe, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney a flip-flopper and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani as downright hostile to the pro-life movement.

"I don't see any consensus on any candidate right now," says Steve Scheffler, president of the Iowa Christian Alliance and an influential voice in his state's caucuses. "All three have got challenges."

The fight to reverse that perception is getting personal. McCain and Romney, through aides and supporters, are hitting each other almost daily over the issue.

McCain, a consistent opponent of abortion in his more than two decades in Congress who nonetheless is viewed with suspicion by many in the anti-abortion community, pushed the issue to the front by declaring his support for overturning Roe v. Wade Sunday on the campaign trail in the conservative upstate region of South Carolina.

This prompted Romney to go on the attack. "Ask the pro-life movement where his leadership has been in the six years since 2000 that he's been running for president," said Gary Marx, who is charged with handling conservative outreach for Romney, of McCain. "What has he done?"

Romney, though, has even more challenges on pro-life issues. He was, in his words, "effectively pro-choice" until recent years and argued vehemently in both his unsuccessful run for the Senate in 1994 and in his 2002 gubernatorial bid that he would not lift a finger to take away a woman's right to an abortion.

Giuliani has smartly avoided the spat. Unlike Romney, he remains pro-choice. But even Giuliani has sought to lessen the gulf between his views and the GOP conservative base on the issue, saying on Fox News that he "hate[s]" the practice of abortion and telling South Carolinians that he'd appoint conservative judges in the mold of John Roberts and Samuel Alito.

"Giuliani is just starting to tip-toe into the pandering business, but he'll get there," quips Keene.

Some social conservatives, while appreciative of Roberts and Alito, are distraught at how little President Bush has done to put the topic at the forefront and fear even less will be done should any of the top three 2008 contenders be nominated. This only increases the pressure on presidential hopefuls to embrace the pro-life movement.

Michael Franc of The Heritage Foundation says that with the prospect of a Democratic-controlled, or at least closely divided, Congress and a Republican president who lacks ardor for the issue, not "losing any ground" on abortion may be the best that right-to-life activists can hope for.

"The real battle," Franc notes, "is going to be fought in the states and in scaling back judicial activism."

"What a lot of people are looking for," said former presidential candidate and conservative activist Gary Bauer of the GOP's White House hopefuls, "is do they understand the issue and do they understand that Roe v. Wade is the ultimate example of judicial activism?"

And do they?

"The jury is still out," says Bauer. But, he adds, McCain should win praise for speaking out against Roe. Merely offering rhetorical bows to "strict constructionist judges" isn't sufficient, argues Bauer, who is neutral in the race and backed McCain in the 2000 primary. "Strict constructionists think that precedent should stay," says Bauer, and thus their appointment wouldn't lead to Roe being overturned.

For McCain, Scheffler points out, it's just that he's not identified with the right to life movement. "Part of it is a perception problem because of his maverick streak," Scheffler says. Bauer notes that part of the problem is that McCain's ardent support for campaign finance reform angered some in the right to life movement who felt that the McCain-Feingold bill hurt their advocacy ability.

Asked to discuss the issue, McCain's campaign had Marlys Popma, a veteran Iowa social conservative activist now backing the Arizonan, defend the senator's record.

"People are almost better identified by those who oppose them," notes Popma, a former head of Iowa Right to Life. And when she researched McCain's record before signing on, she was pleased with what she saw.

"I went and looked at how Planned Parenthood and NARAL had ranked Sen. McCain. For the last several years — zeros. That spoke volumes to me."

But doesn't McCain at least have, as Scheffler puts it, "a perception problem?"

"Any campaign's job is to teach people about the candidate," Popma replies, and "if they take the time to look at his record, it speaks for itself."

Romney's campaign, despite their candidate's past protestations that he backed abortion rights, makes a similar argument.

"His record is his record," argues Kevin Madden, Romney's spokesman. When it came to actual governing decisions in his sole four-year term, Romney, Madden boasts, has "the luxury of having a strong pro-life record on this issue."

But, Madden adds, they've not sought to spotlight the issue and have tried to highlight other matters.

"The narrative is being driven by the media's focus on it more than the public's focus on it."

Madden laments that instead of talking about issues like health care, the economy or the threat of "Jihadists," Romney holds press conferences where "60% of the questions are about his Mormon religion and 40% are about abortion."

Giuliani's camp would also rather talk about more advantageous issues like homeland security and defense with the Republican base.

"This election is being viewed in terms of leadership in that Republican primary voters are looking at the bigger picture and want the best candidate to move this country forward," argues Giuliani spokeswoman Maria Comella.

On abortion, Giuliani has "been consistent on the issue, that's what voters respect about him," Comella says. Giuliani, Comella reiterates, "personally opposes abortion, but he believes it's a woman's rights to choose."

But how can Giuliani reconcile such a construction with past comments where he embraced the language of abortion rights supporters and praised the very groups that Popma, McCain's supporter, used as her litmus test?

Partially, at least, by pointing to what took place in New York while Giuliani was mayor. "He presided over a decline of abortions, promoted adoption as a real alternative and saw adoptions increase and abortions decrease," says Comella.
By Jonathan Martin
TM & © 2007 The Politico & Politico.com, a division of Allbritton Communications Company