National Right to Life general counsel and Mitt Romney backer James Bopp Jr. told the Iowa Christian Alliance last week that a vote for Giuliani is a vote for Rudy Giuliani, The Washington Post reports. God-o-Meter remembers sitting down with a Romney aide more than six months ago and hearing that the campaign was likely to eventually resort to this “vote for your second favorite candidate” strategy to woo evangelical Christians. The thinking is simple: Huckabee doesn’t have the money/organization to challenge a star candidate like Giuliani; Romney does.
From the Post:

“I love Mike Huckabee,” Bopp said, quickly adding: “Something I know for sure [is] he does not have the resources to compete.” Boiled down, Bopp’s argument is simple: You might like Huckabee best but he can’t win. So, vote for the guy — Romney — you like second best.
The call to practical thinking represents a major break with the past approach of social conservatives when it comes to picking a candidate. In cycles past many social conservatives threw their support behind candidates like Alan Keyes, Gary Bauer and even Rev. Pat Robertson — none of whom were seen as top tier contenders or were able to compete with those “A” list candidates financially.

God-o-Meter predicts that the power of this argument among evangelical Christians rides largely on Romney’s “Faith in America” speech this week.

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