Disenfranchised Voting Bloc Still Looking for its Presidential Candidate

By Lagan Sebert

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 6/9/07 – A Hollywood actor, never one to count out in a Republican election, is picking up steam in the presidential race from one of the largest voting blocs. While the three best-funded Republican presidential candidates are John McCain, Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson is attracting new attention.

These three candidates also enjoy the most name recognition and appear at the top of most national poles on the Republican side. Though each of these candidates bring impressive résumé’s to the table the fact is that none of them align with the conservative Christian right that has become so instrumental in mobilizing support for Republican candidates in the last decades.

Both McCain and Giuliani have been divorced and while Romney has a pristine family history, his Mormon religion may be too much for conservative Christian voters to rally behind. Romney and Giuliani have both supported abortion rights, though Romney has since become pro life, and McCain’s advocacy for strict campaign finance reform would impede many interest groups ability to insert themselves into politics including Christian conservative interest groups. Giuliani was cut off “by God” during the last Republican debate when lightning struck and kept the candidate from delivering his position on abortion rights.

This political vacuum has left the Christian social conservatives, a group that has in recent history been fervent supporters of the Republican Party, up for grabs. Democrats such as John Edwards grow closer and closer to galvanizing the support of the Christian right as top Republican candidates seem increasingly out of touch with their interests.

There does, however, seem to be a wild card. As former Senator and current actor, Fred Thompson eyes the playing field, warming up for a potential entry into the field, he may be the perfect republican to rally the Christian conservatives as Bush has done in the two previous elections. The Washington times has reported that several leading Christian conservatives say they will rally behind former Sen. Fred Thompson, who they fully expect to enter the presidential race. This is surprising since Thompson himself has been divorced.

“Either social conservatives rally to stop a Giuliani nomination and victory for him in November 2008 or our issues — abortion, same-sex marriage, the preservation of the family — are permanently off the Republican Party agenda,” one social conservative told the Washington Times.

Watching the recent republican debates it seems that Republican candidates are further distancing themselves from the current administration. In last week’s debates only Senator Brownback and Representative Tancredo said that they would pardon Scooter Libby for his involvement in the CIA leaks. Fred Thompson has raise money for the defense of Scooter Libby. This kind of party line orthodoxy when the current administration’s approval rating is at a new low may not seem like the best idea, however Thompson’s strong conservative angle still has an audience in this country. And Fred Thompson certainly knows how to work an audience.