Reposted from:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/08/us/politics/08conservatives.html?th&emc=th

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa, July 3 — Dell Collins teaches an adult Sunday school class at his evangelical church in central Iowa, and he recently took his students through a series of lessons on the Book of James and its repeated exhortations to put faith into action.

But Mr. Collins is grappling with just how to apply his beliefs when it comes to picking a favorite from a Republican field in which the leading contenders each face serious obstacles to winning over Christian conservatives.

"Do you go with your heart or with your head?" he said. "My first choice is with my heart, but you also have to be realistic."

Unlike in the 2000 presidential campaign, when George W. Bush was able to overcome early doubts among religious conservatives by speaking the language of personal faith, the three most prominent Republican candidates, Rudolph W. Giuliani, Senator John McCain and Mitt Romney, are continuing to have difficulty winning over this crucial constituency in the Republican base.

The calculus at this point for social conservative voters, who represent more than 60 percent of Republican caucus goers here in Iowa, is replete with tradeoffs over who best adheres to their values and who is ultimately electable next year. Interviews with more than 40 evangelicals recently across Iowa at campaign events, churches and over the telephone found that many feared Mr. Giuliani might win the nomination even though he supported abortion rights. But they are wrestling with whether Mr. Romney's recent conversion to opposing abortion is genuine, and they wonder how much to trust Mr. McCain, who has harshly criticized the religious right in the past.

"You want to support a candidate that has your values, but you also need to support somebody who has the ability to win," said Nancy Hedegaard, who volunteers as a bookkeeper at her Lutheran church and attended a house party here for Mr. Romney on Monday. "The question is, 'Are they going to be the same person?' "

Partly because of their qualms about the candidates already in the race, some evangelicals are hoping that they might find a better match in a Republican who has yet to formally announce his candidacy, former Senator Fred D. Thompson of Tennessee. But for now many Christian conservatives interviewed, at least here in Iowa, appear to have settled tentatively on Mr. Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, who has been advertising and campaigning aggressively in the state and has been leading in recent polls.

Robin Nichols, 49, a mother of two who attends a Baptist church in Ames, disagrees theologically with Mr. Romney's Mormon faith but she said it would not stop her from voting for him because she believed he was the most conservative of the top three candidates.

His religion actually bolsters his credibility in her mind, Ms. Nichols said, as someone with strong family values. His wholesome family image — he and his wife are high school sweethearts, with 5 children and 10 grandchildren — also helps reinforce that impression.

"I felt like morally and ethically, because of his Mormon values, that he would be trustworthy," she said.

But she began to question her allegiance Saturday, after listening to Mr. Romney speak at a Republican candidate forum in Des Moines sponsored by the Iowa Christian Alliance and Iowans for Tax Relief. There, Mr. Romney said he opposed federal financing for embryonic stem cell research but would not outlaw it. The response confused Mrs. Nichols.

"That really bothered me," she said. "At that point, I questioned, had he really changed his viewpoint, or was he just trying to appeal to the conservative vote?"

Mr. Romney's Mormonism clearly continues to trouble some evangelicals. "I like his stand on families, I really do," said Mary Van Steenis, a teacher at a Christian school from Pella, Iowa. "But if he's going to put the leader of the Mormons before his God there's a problem."

Norm Pawlewski, 73, a retired Iowa state official and part-time Christian lobbyist, said he quickly crossed Mr. Romney off his list: "Too many flip-flops."

Mr. Giuliani's candidacy was similarly a nonstarter with him, he said, because of the former New York City mayor's support for abortion rights.

"Abortion is still number one with me and every social conservative I know," Mr. Pawlewski said.

But Michael Canady, a board member for the Iowa Christian Alliance, said he was at least open to voting for Mr. Giuliani, arguing his strong stance on terrorism could trump other concerns.

"He's definitely more liberal on the social issues than most evangelicals like," he said, but he added that he considered Mr. Giuliani "a leader and somebody who could be strong on defense."

With many Christian conservatives intent on preventing a Democrat from being elected, perhaps the biggest quandary for many is whether electability should be paramount, or whether to stick to a candidate who most shares their faith and worldview.

In an informal survey taken by this reporter at an adult Sunday school class of about 30 students at First Assembly of God in Des Moines, former Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, a former Baptist minister, finished ahead of Mr. Romney, eight to five, with none of the other candidates getting more than one or two votes. But the largest segment of the class, nine students in all, said they remained undecided.

"The Bible says to be as innocent as doves and as sly as serpents," said John Phillips, 48, a member of the class. "You have to weigh things with your intellect but put it through the filter of your faith. That's what I'm trying to do right now."

Most of the 40 evangelicals interviewed for this article, however, said they were not interested in throwing away their vote, saying Mr. Giuliani would be preferable to any Democrat.

Mr. Pawlewski professed to being tempted to back one of the second-tier candidates, but, in 2000, he supported Alan Keyes, a firebrand from the right who secured a surprising 14 percent of the vote in the Iowa caucus, only to see his campaign sputter afterward. Mr. Pawlewski said he vowed to never again pour himself into a long-shot campaign, and is now volunteering for Mr. McCain.

"If you look at his record as a senator, he's pretty conservative," he said. "He's always been on the conservative side fiscally and on a number of issues he's been conservative socially."

But many remain deeply skeptical of Mr. McCain because they view him as too much of a maverick. His support of the recent immigration bill is also unpopular among Republicans here, who saw the legislation as amnesty for illegal immigrants.

The search for that elusive combination of conservative bona fides and electability has fueled a yearning among some for Mr. Thompson to enter the race.

"Fred Thompson has a 100 percent voting record with the National Right to Life Committee" said Tim Morgan, 51, a jewelry store owner who is active in his Methodist church in Newton, Iowa, and ran unsuccessfully for State Senate last year. "For me, that's a badge of honor."

Mr. Morgan said he also liked Mr. Thompson's consistency in voting in favor of traditional marriage and that he "appears to be a candidate that can raise the money, get the votes and win the nomination."

Most interviewed here in Iowa, however, said they knew little about Mr. Thompson, aside from his acting in "Law and Order." Others predicted his record, including his role in the passage of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance bill, which he has since disavowed, would pose its own dilemmas for conservatives.

"I think there may be a certain fascination with him simply because of his name recognition," said Tamara Scott, Iowa state director of Concerned Women for America, a conservative Christian group. "But it seems to fade quickly when people begin to analyze his political viewpoint and find it's not so enchanting after all."

For many Christian conservatives, following their true convictions means bucking the conventional wisdom and turning to one of the lesser-knowns in the field, such as Mr. Huckabee or Senator Sam Brownback, a leading social conservative from Kansas, or even Representative Tom Tancredo of Colorado, who has made illegal immigration his signature issue. Many of those interviewed said Mr. Huckabee's past life in Christian ministry lent him immediate credibility.

Recent polls have shown Mr. Huckabee running fourth in Iowa. He drew an enthusiastic ovation at the recent candidate forum in Des Moines, attended by nearly a thousand conservatives, which Mr. Giuliani and Mr. McCain did not attend.

Ms. Nichols, who had been leaning toward Mr. Romney, came away from the forum impressed by Mr. Huckabee but remained unsure of his chances. The Iowa straw poll, an early test for the Republican field, is fast approaching in August. "I'm sitting on the fence," she said. "I have to make a decision."