Conservatives Searching for a Contender

Feb. 10, 2007 — -- Judging by the media coverage, you might think Democrats are the only ones running for president in 2008: Democrats and news anchors alike are buzzing about the possible first woman president and the first possible black president.

Meantime, Republicans are still licking their wounds from the 2006 midterm elections. And as conservatives consider their presidential hopefuls, they're concerned. None of their frontrunners -- former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney -- are true, purebred conservatives.

"I'd like to hear what he really believes on social issues and how it affects the South," said Patrick Haddon, a young Republican who attended an event for Giuliani in South Carolina. He's concerned about Giuliani's pro-choice, pro-gun control and pro-gay rights beliefs.

"I don't know," said another man at the event. "I haven't made up my mind yet."

Yet, Giuliani is by far the most popular Republican among presidential contenders. According to a recent Gallup poll, Republicans and independents say he's more likable than McCain, 74 percent to 21 percent. They also believe he'd better in a crisis, 68 percent to 28 percent. But when it comes to winning the Republican nomination, they're about even.

"There are some differences, but I don't think the differences are as great as you think," said Giuliani. "People have to ask, 'How great is that difference, in comparison to all the things we agree on?'"

Some Republicans say before the GOP can choose a presidential nominee, it has to do some soul searching.

"The GOP had better the hell wake up, or 2008 is going to be disaster," said Frank Luntz, a Republican pollster who's written a book called "Words that Work." He said Republican voters are angry, and he's worried Republican leaders haven't learned any lessons from their midterm losses.

"They have to win back the people in the center who are economically conservative and felt that the Republican Party abandoned them," said Luntz. "2006 was not an embrace of the Democrats, it was a rejection of the Republicans."

Conservatives agree and say Republicans deserved last year's defeat for abandoning core principles of limited government, fiscal restraint and individual responsibility. They see 2008 as an opportunity to return to those ideals. The question is, can Giuliani, Romney and McCain win over social conservatives?

"Any practical, pragmatic politician is not going to dismiss that important part of the coalition, which after all did produce a Republican president and Republican Congress," said conservative scholar Lee Edwards of the Heritage Foundation. "So I wouldn't be surprised at all if those three candidates became increasingly conservative in the months ahead."

With President Bush, conservatives, more or less, knew who they were getting. This time around, they may have to settle for the man who can win.