Evangelical Supporter Seeks to Rally Brethren for Romney

NEW YORK TIMES [NYTimes Group/Sulzberger] - By Michael Luo - October 10, 2007 In a bid to derail Rudolph W. Giuliani’s surge in the polls and rally evangelical voters, an influential evangelical public relations executive wrote to some 150 top conservative Christian leaders warning of the prospect of a Giuliani or Hillary Rodham Clinton administration and prodding them to rally instead around Mitt Romney. Mark DeMoss, a publicist whose clients include the Rev. Franklin Graham, penned a five-page letter, urging evangelical leaders to “galvanize support around Mitt Romney, so Mr. Giuliani isn’t the unintended beneficiary of our divided support among several candidates.” Or, “worse yet,” he warned, “so we don’t abdicate the presidency (and the future of the Supreme Court) over to Hillary Clinton.” In an interview, Mr. DeMoss, who is a Romney supporter but is not paid by the campaign, said he sensed an opening for Mr. Romney at this point in the race, with Fred D. Thompson garnering lackluster reviews on the campaign trail and lesser-known candidates like Mike Huckabee continuing to struggle with fund-raising. “A lot of things that a lot of conservatives have either been hoping for, or waiting for, are clearly not panning out,” he said. He said he also wanted to warn his peers that time is running out to rally around someone. “Look, you can’t wait and see too much longer, or we can tell you what you’re going to get, and it’s something you didn’t want apparently,” he said. “But there’s time to do something about it.” In his letter, Mr. DeMoss cited three major concerns. First, he said, there is a very real prospect conservatives will split up their vote and wind up helping to elect Mr. Giuliani, “who clearly does not share our values on so many issues.” Second, he said, he believes that conservative leaders who are threatening to bolt the Republican Party and support a third party candidate if Republicans nominate a candidate who supports abortion rights, like Mr. Giuliani, would only help elect Mrs. Clinton. Finally, he said, he was troubled by talk he had been hearing from others that electing someone like Mrs. Clinton would actually be positive for the conservative movement because it would galvanize fund-raising and forces. - - - - http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/10/mitt-romney-gets-a-boost-from-an-evangelical-supporter/index.html?ex=1192680000&en=3771532d12289b44&ei=5065&partner=MYWAY FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of religious, environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.