SoCons Unite Against Rudy?

It feels like ages ago when the conventional wisdom posited that Rudy Giuliani could never win the Republican nomination because of the his positions on God, Guns and Gays (not to mention Abortion). Well, 7 months later, not only is Rudy still in the race, but he's raising more than his rivals and leads almost all of the national polls.

Given that the primaries begin in a mere 14 weeks, this revelation has many prominent social conservative activists panicking. After all, the SoCons have been the most powerful group within the GOP since 1980 when Ronald Reagan beat the more moderate George H.W. Bush for the nomination. What then does it say that the party would turn around 28 years later and nominate a candidate that would be further to the left than Bush Sr.? When faced with this question, SoCons have to then ask themselves whether it would be preferable to lose the election outright to the Democrats by forcing the GOP to nominate a more traditional conservative or to allow the GOP to select what they view as a heretic. The latter option would implicitly concede that the power of the movement is severely weakened if Giuliani would be able to overcome their objections and win the nomination. That would set a dangerous precedent for future elections.

Thus it's not surprising to see that key social conservatives have begun floating the idea of forming a third party to block Rudy from winning the Presidency (were he to win the nomination) by throwing the election to the Democrats:

Alarmed at the chance that the Republican party might pick Rudolph Giuliani as its presidential nominee despite his support for abortion rights, a coalition of influential Christian conservatives is threatening to back a third-party candidate in an attempt to stop him.

The group making the threat, which came together Saturday in Salt Lake City during a break-away gathering during a meeting of the secretive Council for National Policy, includes Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family, who is perhaps the most influential of the group, as well as Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, the direct mail pioneer Richard Viguerie and dozens of other politically-oriented conservative Christians, participants said. Almost everyone present expressed support for a written resolution that “if the Republican Party nominates a pro-abortion candidate we will consider running a third party candidate.”

The participants spoke on condition of anonymity because the both the Council for National Policy and the smaller meeting were secret, but they said members of the intend to publicize its resolution. These participants said the group chose the qualified term “consider” because they have not yet identified an alternative third party candidate, but the group was largely united in its plans to bolt the party if Mr. Giuliani became the candidate.

Of course, this would be a blatant attempt to intentionally sabotage the Republican Party and it is highly doubtful that it would attract Perot-levels of support. But, if the third party effort pulls even 3%-4% (Nader 2000 levels) from Rudy's total, that would be enough to do the job.