Posted on 10/22/2011 9:13:58 PM PDT by casinva
Evangelical activists are sharply divided just 10 weeks before Iowa's leadoff presidential caucuses, and a half-dozen Republican contenders hoped to gain an edge with the state's most potent conservative voting bloc.
The candidates, including businessman Herman Cain, sought Saturday to sharpen their Christian conservative credentials, and at times allay doubts, among this influential group before the state's Jan. 3 caucuses, which officially open the Republican nominating process.
Iowa voters have yet to rally around any single candidate and aggressively court them, seeking the kind of lift that carried former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee to victory in the leadoff caucuses in 2008.
Influential pastors in the state say their network of politically active clergy is divided. Likewise, Christian home-school activists, a well-networked group that worked behind the scenes for Huckabee, apparently have no preferred candidate.
Activists attending a forum at the Iowa State Fairgrounds weighed pitches from former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, Rep. Michele Bachmann and Texas Gov. Rick Perry as well as Cain, former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Rep. Ron Paul.
snip
Cain sought to clarify his position on abortion after suggesting this week the issue was a matter of choice.
Perry took a veiled jab at Romney, who had supported abortion rights but declared his opposition during his term as Massachusetts governor as he was weighing a presidential bid.
"Pro-life is not a matter of campaign convenience," said Perry, who has stepped up his attacks on Romney's conservative profile.
Bachmann, who won the Iowa Republican straw poll in August with help from Iowa's politically active network of evangelical pastors, proclaimed her support for a constitutional amendment making abortion illegal.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
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Iowa went for the Kenyan in 2008.
No one cares.
It really is time to mix up the primaries and make the candidates work.
Making the SRM do so too is another topic.
Cain seemed uncharacteristically nervous and reticent. He did ok but I had hoped for much more.
Gingrich banged it out of the park.
Santorum surprised me with how good he was but that’s an afterthought since his appeal was so narrow.
Cain/Gingrich anyone?
“Cain/Gingrich anyone?”
I could definitely live with that. Actually, I could live with just about any ticket that does not include Romney.
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