Weyrich on the Third Party Option

Paul Weyrich's TownHall.com column today examines the "third party" question recently triggered by values voters who hope to head off a pro-abortion Giuliani nomination as the Republican candidate for president.

Weyrich looks at what he believes would be necessary for a third party initiative to succeed, then concludes:

Could Dobson, himself a major figure, trigger all of the ingredients for a new party if there were a walkout from the GOP? I doubt it. Loyalty is too strong. Maybe Dobson could find multi-millionaires to help but having a major media operation to be sympathetic would be almost impossible. He could try the 1,100 local and national radio talk-show hosts. But managing that in a short time frame would be next to impossible. I am afraid that were Dobson to pull out we would be looking at President Hillary Rodham Clinton in 2009.

Weyrich is widely acknowledged as the "founder of the modern social conservative movement," so he's in a position of expertise in this area. Despite this assessment, Weyrich is quoted in The Hill as stating that many values voters simply will not support Giuliani (with or without a third party move), and said he will not back Giuliani, either.

“You have a whole group of evangelical Christians who will not support him,” said Paul Weyrich, a member of the Arlington Group, in reference to Giuliani. “Absolutely will not.

“I will not back Giuliani,” he added.

Weyrich, a founder of the modern social conservative movement and chairman of the Free Congress Foundation, predicted that in the general election many values-driven Republican voters would stay home if Giuliani is the nominee.

This is why I've been saying that even without a third party movement, Giuliani can't beat Hillary; as with the 1996 Bob Dole candidacy, values voters can't get excited about a candidate who opposes their core issues--and a lot will not vote for such a candidate at all.

Incidentally, the opening paragraph reveals a South Dakota connection to these discussions, one I've been quiet about until now.

Recently there has been considerable talk about a third party, which originated from an informal meeting in Salt Lake City called by Robert K. Fischer, President of Fischer Furniture, Inc., Rapid City, South Dakota. The session gathered steam when Dr. James Dobson, perhaps the most influential pro-family leader, stated that he would consider a third party if an unacceptable GOP candidate were nominated for President.

I'll be going to Washington, D.C. with Bob Fischer tomorrow for the Family Research Council's "Washington Briefing." I'll be doing some blogging (as much as possible) from the conference, and I'll let you know if there's anything new to report on this subject, as well.