The Note: Abortion and the GOP

May 11, 2007— -- Who needs an opposition party anyway? The Republicans are doing an efficient job of tearing themselves up these days, with research teams spinning and campaign jabs flying. You know it's bad when The Wall Street Journal's editorial writers have to revive their role as disciplinarians of conservatism: "If the GOP wants to lose in 2008 they should keep this up." LINK

Most of the attention has been on Rudy Giuliani (R-N.Y.), who is ending a very bad week on the campaign trail (World Series rings? OxyContin?). The Giuliani campaign knows he needs to make his views on abortion more clear before Tuesday – or he risks being eaten alive on stage at the GOP debate in South Carolina. A new NARAL questionnaire is making the rounds online, with Rudy checking "yes" to opposing parental notification laws and Medicaid-funded abortions "without any restrictions." LINK

Giuliani gets his first chance to explain himself at 9:30 am ET today with a speech at Houston Baptist University in Texas, and he plans to use the speech to directly address questions over his abortion stance. He also plans to address issues raised in that questionnaire, and outline some areas where his thinking has "evolved" over the years, a campaign aide said.

Giuliani's not the only candidate struggling with abortion. Former governor Mitt Romney (R-Mass.) – Time's new cover boy - last night saw his first major abortion speech protested by both abortion-rights groups and anti-abortion hardliners, including some hecklers who broke out the old John Kerry flip-flop costumes, reports Raja Mishra of The Boston Globe. LINK

We're waiting for the first campaign ad that shows Kerry's face morphing into Romney's.

On the other big political issue of the week – Iraq – Karl Rove and company are steamed that Tuesday's meeting between President Bush and House Republican moderates became public knowledge, the Hill's Jonathan Kaplan reports. LINK

But no reading of the riot act will change underlying concerns about the war, and the list of fed-up Republicans is only growing. LINK