Actually, it's pretty obvious he *has* dumped it -- and had never adopted it in the first place.
In fact, I often wonder whether the "You've gotta be an AECreationist to be a 'real' conservative" folks have ever noticed that the most prominent conservative commentators have all studiously avoided ID/AECreationism entirely.
You never hear Rush Limbaugh, for example, railing against evolution. And despite the press spin on President Bush's answer to the ambush question about ID, he actually *sidestepped* it, and pointedly refused to actually advocate ID or denounce evolution. And so on, and so on. The vast majority of conservative political commentators, pundits, and politicians treat ID/AECreationism like an embarrassing hot potato, best left locked up in the attic along with crazy Aunt Harriet.
Rail? No, I haven't. But I have heard him take potshots from time to time, to my great disappointment.
Actually, he once did deal with it, in a very superficial way. And he got it wrong. But since then he's avoided the subject. Bill O'Reilly too is all wucked up on evolution -- as he is with several other topics, like oil company profits. But basically, you're right. At the top, the GOP isn't into this subject. But for the record, I'll repeat myself ...
ATTENTION KARL ROVE: Creationism is a hopeless issue! Keep it out of Republican election campaigns. Wanna keep winning elections? Dump ID!