At summit, social conservatives search for Mr. Right

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) is set to address more than 2,000 representatives of the religious right Saturday morning, and some leaders say Giuliani has little chance of winning anybody over.

“It’s not his crowd,” Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council (FRC), said Friday.

Perkins and other leading groups representing socially conservative voters are hosting all of the Republican presidential candidates Friday and Saturday at the FRC’s Values Voters Summit in Washington.

{mosads}Former Sen. Fred Thompson (Tenn.) appeared to satisfy the crowd’s appetite for a socially conservative candidate, but Perkins cautioned that some are still hesitant to embrace the former actor because he has not endorsed a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, citing federalist beliefs.

There was some confusion after Thompson’s FRC speech Friday, however, when some reporters thought the former senator had reversed himself and announced his support for such an amendment.

“When I was in the Senate, we fought for the Defense of Marriage Act, passed that act, basically defining marriage as between a man and woman and saying, one state, if they do such a thing, does not have to be recognized by another state, when someone moves to that new state,” Thompson said. “This is a totally judicially created problem. I propose a constitutional amendment which will stop this particular brand of judicial activism in its tracks.”

That last statement was cut off by applause from the crowd, which apparently thought the former senator had just announced his support for a constitutional ban on gay marriage, an important issue at the summit.

But Thompson spokeswoman Karen Hanretty clarified later that Thompson proposes a “constitutional amendment that bans judges from imposing same-sex marriage from the bench and prevents states from imposing it on other states.”

Hanretty added that if Thompson, as president, was handed a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage outright, he would sign it.

Perkins said after the speech that Thompson did not offer any details, and he does not believe the former senator has changed his mind.

“I think he is re-thinking that position,” Perkins said.

He added that he would like to hear the former senator and the rest of the GOP field make a definitive declaration.

“Some have not been willing to state that as clearly as we would like at this point,” Perkins said.

Regardless, Thompson is almost assured to get a better reception than Giuliani.

The former mayor’s support for abortion rights, combined with his healthy front-runner position, has left socially conservative leaders in a quandary, leading some to even suggest backing a third-party candidate.

Giuliani said earlier this week that he will ask the crowd to focus on areas where they are in agreement, instead of the issues where they differ.

But Perkins said Friday that pledging to nominate “strict constructionist” judges is not enough to sway the crowd to Giuliani’s name on the ballot.

“He may win over some, but not me,” Perkins said, adding that the promise on judges “does not hold a lot of weight with me.”

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is scheduled to address the crowd Friday night, and many analysts have questioned how evangelicals will react to a Mormon candidate.

The Romney campaign released excerpts from Romney’s speech indicating he will devote much of his time to speaking out against out-of-wedlock births.

“One of the biggest threats to the fabric of our society is out-of-wedlock childbirth,” Romney is expected to say. “Ann and I will use the bully pulpit to teach America’s children that before they have babies, they should get married. It’s time to make out-of-wedlock births out-of-fashion again.”

The event culminates Saturday afternoon with a presidential straw poll. Perkins said as many as 10,000 people could vote in the poll, and all of the candidates, with the exception of Giuliani, have been encouraging their supporters to register and vote.

Perkins said the religious right has complete agreement on what issues are important to them, but they have been unable to “coalesce” around one candidate.

Perkins said that after this weekend, “two or three” of the Republican candidates will emerge “having gained credibility and strong support” from social conservatives. He declined to say whom he thought those candidates will be.