NEW YORK - Some 150 top-level conservative Christian leaders are expected to receive in the mail this week a letter urging them to “galvanize support” around presidential hopeful Mitt Romney so former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani “isn’t the unintended beneficiary of our divided support among several candidates.”
Or, “worse yet,” the letter adds, “so we don’t abdicate the presidency (and the future of the Supreme Court) over to Hillary Clinton.”The letter, which was published by the New York Times on Wednesday, was written by Mark DeMoss, who has served some of the world’s most prominent and effective Christian ministries and enterprises since the founding of faith-based PR firm The DeMoss Group in 1991.
“In about 100 days we will likely have a Republican nominee for president,” DeMoss writes at the beginning of his letter to “Conservative & Evangelical Leaders.”
“While most people think this election cycle started too early, I’m finding that few people realize the primaries are almost upon us – and how compacted the primary calendar is,” he adds.
DeMoss, whose clients include the Rev. Franklin Graham, says he decided over a year ago to help former Massachusetts Gov. Romney after spending months researching his life and his record, and hours with him (and his wife and staff) in his home, his office and on the road.
“I am convinced his values practically mirror my own—values about the sanctity of life, the sacredness of marriage, the importance of the family, character and integrity, free enterprise and smaller government,” he writes.
And although he has not been and will not be paid for his efforts, DeMoss says he has worked harder for Romney’s campaign than during any past election because he believes the next president is “almost certain” to appoint two to four Supreme Court justices.
He also notes that the next president will have to deal with issues including same-sex “marriage” and abortion. “Do we want that person to be Hillary Clinton, Rudy Giuliani or Mitt Romney?” DeMoss asks several times to the letter’s recipients.
Recently, some of the nation's most politically influential conservative Christians, alarmed by the prospect of a Republican presidential nominee who supports abortion rights, said they were considering backing a third-party candidate.
“We’re very, very concerned about the implications of a Hillary Clinton presidency,” said Dr. James Dobson, who attended the meeting of more than 40 Christian conservatives late last month in Salt Lake City.
“[B]ut you know, we have been working … for 35 years, I’ve been trying to defend the unborn child,” Dobson said on Fox’s Hannity & Colmes show Monday. “That’s been my life. That’s been my belief, along with marriage and the family and the other things. I can’t now abandon that because we’ve got two bad choices here.”
Dobson is not yet participating in any planning for a third party, said Gary Schneeberger, a spokesman for Focus on the Family Action, according to The Associated Press. But Dobson has expressed in the past that he wouldn't support Giuliani.
