Is Rudy Giuliani reading–and reacting–to God-o-Meter? Just as his GOM reading was on a glide path to 0 for inspiring a third party threat from the Christian Right and for telling religious conservatives to respect him for being honest about his socially liberal positions, America’s Mayor cranks it up to 5 by accepting the Family Research Council’s invitation to speak at its Washington Values Voters Summit later this month.
Giuliani is the last A-list Republican candidate to accept the invitation from DC’s top Christian Right lobby–Fred Thompson, Mitt Romney, and John McCain and most second-tier GOPers will be there. How he finishes in the straw poll to be conducted at the summit may shed some light on the Republican primary’s big unanswered question: will a chunk of religious conservatives warm to Rudy if he doesn’t completely ignore them? A respectable finish in the straw poll would undermine the third party threat, but a washout could revive questions about his viability and provide another boost to rivals like Mike Huckabee.

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