So what does it mean that, despite a record that includes lobbying for an abortion rights advocacy group and a stand against amending the Constitution to ban abortion, Fred Thompson apparently has gotten the endorsement of the nation’s pre-eminent anti-abortion political organization, the Natonal Right to Life Committee?
In many ways, the move reflects how unacceptable its leaders found others in the GOP field. The pro-choice Giuliani is anathema to NRLC leaders. John McCain has a voting record they like, but right-to-lifers believe that his McCain-Feingold legislation has crippled their ability to educate and motivate pro-life voters. (This, don’t forget, is the group whose Wisconsin chapter brought the Supreme Court Case that struck down a central part of the law.) Other campaigns are breathing a sigh of relief that the nod did not go to former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, who could have turned it into a(nother) big shot of momentum in Iowa; NRLC’s decision to bypass Huckabee seems to be a sign that the group does not believe he has the financial wherewithal he needs to mount a serious challenge to the frontrunners in the race. As for Romney, many believe he is simply too much of a Johnny-come-lately to their cause. “So tag,” one conservative strategist tells me, “Fred is it.”
In the past week alone, we have seen Rudy Giuliani endorsed by televangelist Pat Robertson, Mitt Romney by movement pioneer Paul Weyrich, John McCain by former presidential rival Sam Brownback and Mike Huckabee by American Family Association founder Donald Wildmon. But with the various endorsements from socially conservative leaders so fragmented, all it appears the movement has done is to devalue all of them. Say the activist: “The endorsements, like the votes, are spread all over the map and therefore are diluted.