Republican Senate candidates sparring about which one is most conservative

ATLANTA - In his new television commercial, U.S. Senate candidate Johnny Isakson is shown standing with his Sunday School class and shaking hands at a parade where people are waving American flags.

"Being conservative means you stand for something, that you're fiscally frugal, and it means you care about your country," said Isakson, a Cobb County Republican who wants to move from the U.S. House to the U.S. Senate.

The ad stresses Isakson's "conservative" values, such as his support of President Bush's war on terror, conservative judges and reforming the tax system.

The message is clear: Isakson says he's a conservative. The problem for Isakson, the current fund-raising leader for this summer's primaries, could be that some Republicans don't think Isakson is conservative enough.

"Isakson's opponents are saying he's not a conservative, but Isakson is certainly trying to define himself as a conservative," said Emory University political scientist Merle Black.

In Georgia, these conservative Republicans have two other options running in the Republican U.S. Senate primary: former Godfather's Pizza CEO Herman Cain and U.S. Rep. Mac Collins of Butts County.

Both Cain and Collins are trying to hammer Isakson on two issues of critical importance to ultraconservative Republicans: abortion and fiscal policies.

"Isakson is clearly not a conservative," Cain said. "At best, he is a moderate."

Cain has the backing of the influential Club for Growth, a conservative, Washington-based think tank that's credited with nearly defeating 24-year incumbent Republican Arlen Specter in last month's U.S. Senate primary in Pennsylvania.

Collins, meanwhile, has the support of the Traditional Values Coalition, a group that calls itself the largest church lobby in the U.S. that has lobbied Congress to support anti-abortion measures and to oppose gay marriage.

The most dangerous of the two candidates for Isakson is Cain, Black said. If Cain were to finish second in the July 20 primary and force a run-off with Isakson, the run-off would draw national attention.

"A lot of national Republicans would become interested in Georgia at that point," Black said. "They would want to make Cain the new J.C. Watts."

Isakson devotes an entire page of his campaign Web site to an explanation of his "pro-life" credentials.

"In Congress, Johnny has been selected from among all 435 House members by the Speaker to preside over the House during passage of the partial birth abortion ban, which has been signed into law," the Web site reads.

The page also touts Isakson's 90 percent-plus ratings from the following anti-abortion lobbying groups: the American Conservative Union, the Christian Coalition and National Right to Life.

But the abortion issue is the first place some conservatives start when they question Isakson's conservative credentials. Both Cain and Collins say they are more stridently anti-abortion than Isakson, and some Middle Georgians agree.

"I am opposed to Isakson particularly because of his very unpredictable stance on pro-life issues," said Ned Dominick, a Macon resident and longtime anti-abortion activist. "He's been quite pro-abortion at one point, and he's become pro-life when it suits him politically."

When Isakson ran against Guy Millner in 1996 for the Republican nomination to the U.S., Isakson produced a TV ad that was geared to moderate Republicans and was criticized by anti-abortion groups. Isakson lost that primary to Millner.

Isakson better have learned his lesson in the Millner campaign on the abortion issue, if he expects to win this year, Black said. "Isakson needs to be able to counter that criticism," Black said.

One key group, the Traditional Values Coalition, decided Collins, not Isakson, would be the best candidate in Georgia to advance the anti-abortion issue.

"When a serious vote on family values is up, there is one office we never have to worry about going to and that's Collins," said Louis Sheldon, chairman of the Traditional Values Coalition.

Collins points to votes on two abortion-related issues to illustrate his point that he's more consistently anti-abortion than Isakson. Isakson voted to allow abortions in military hospitals overseas, and he voted to ban abortions, except for cases of rape, incest and to protect a mother's life.

"We differ on the issue of right-to-life," Collins said, noting he is the one candidate in the race on record as having voted for only one exception for abortions - when the mother's life is at risk.

Isakson said that his vote to allow abortions in military hospitals overseas was consistent with federal law, but it would strip federal funding for the abortions.

"I don't know what measurement anybody wants, but I'll stack my record up with anyone," Isakson said. "I'm a conservative who delivers, and I've got the record to back it up."

The Club for Growth, which has criticized the growth of the deficit under President Bush, attacked Specter as an abortion-rights, tax-and-spend moderate and as the embodiment of the RINO - the Republican in Name Only.

Cain believes he won the support of the Club for Growth because of his support of tax reform and privatizing individual social-security accounts.

"My bold stance on replacing the tax code and restructuring social security, they like that," Cain said. "They believe that as a businessman, I will not waver on some of the other principles."

But Isakson said he's unassailable on the issue of fiscal conservatism. He points to his support of a "fairer, simpler" federal tax code, and his opposition of a massive congressional transportation bill earlier this year.

"That bill has some of the least fiscal restraint of anything Congress has ever passed, I got a lot of compliments for opposing it," Isakson said. "I've said for a long time that government doesn't have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem."

While Cain and Collins both say they are the most-conservative candidates running for the Republican nomination, some Middle Georgia GOP members don't think that's the critical issue.

"I don't think it will boil down to who's the most conservative or who's the most moderate," said retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Rick Goddard, a Mercer University executive who flirted last year with a run for the U.S. Senate as a Republican. "It's how they will present their views that will be the deciding factor."

Although the winner of the Republican primary would be considered the front-runner in the general election, there's a large crowd of Democrats who also are running for the seat. Nine Democrats have qualified to replace Zell Miller in the U.S. Senate, including U.S. Rep. Denise Majette of DeKalb County.

"Do you think that the election of one black U.S. Senator would have all those positive repercussions?"

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Herman Cain is uniquely qualified to convince conservative and moderate blacks that the Democrat Party has deserted them and that it is the Republican Party that agrees with them on the issues, since (i) he is from a humble background, not from an affluent suburban "Oreo" upbringing, so he's got "street cred," (ii) he is a passionate defender of the right to life and other traditional religious values, and every poll shows that blacks agree with the GOP on these issues (although most don't know it yet), and (iii) he would be the strongest advocate for Social Security reform in the Senate, and blacks are hurt disproprtionately by the current Social Security system, since the life expectancy of black men is much lower than for other groups in the U.S. and thus they do not benefit from a system in which the money they put into it over their working years is not "vested" and thus cannot be bequeathed to their children and grandchildren. While it will take more than Herman Cain's election to the Senate to convince 30% of blacks to vote Republican, it could be the catalyst for which we have been waiting for so long.

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