Isn’t this stuff usually done a little more behind the scenes? In a press release applauding John McCain for remarks he made this week about the GOP’s pro-life platform, Family Research Council Action released a score card of possible GOP vice presidential running mates:

Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty has passed pro-life legislation but his position on embryonic stem cell research needs clarification.
South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford is opposed to abortion, voted for a ban on “partial-birth” abortion and advanced legislation requiring women to see the results of an ultrasound prior to an abortion.
South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint is strongly pro-life and opposed expanding research on embryonic stem cell lines.
Former Ohio Rep. and former Director of the Office of Management and Budget Rob Portman strongly opposes abortion
and gets a 0% rating from the abortion group NARAL. He
has a lifetime ACU Rating of 89 and between 1997 and 2004 he received a perfect 100% from the National Right to Life.
Utah Governor Jon Huntsman, Jr. supported and signed into law parental consent requirement for abortion.
Florida Governor Charlie Crist says he is now pro-life, although formerly pro-choice 10 years ago, he cast the deciding vote against a 24 hour waiting period for abortion. Additionally, when asked recently by National Review if he thought Roe v. Wade was “wrongly decided,” he said, “No I don’t think it should be overturned.” He does support parental notification rights and believes in the prohibition of “partial-birth” abortion.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expresses her position on abortion as “mildly pro-choice.” She supports parental rights, opposes a ban on late-term abortions, but she also takes a libertarian stance in support of a woman’s right to abortion.

Is FRC Action’s decision to go public with its veep preferences a testament to how weak the Christian Right’s back-channel access to McCain is?

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