Pro-Life Senator Sam Brownback Says He’ll Win GOP Presidential Primary
Email this article
Printer friendly page
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
December 8, 2006
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — His name recognition and national stature aren’t as strong as some of the leading possible GOP presidential candidates, but pro-life Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback says he will win the Republican presidential primary in 2008.
Brownback filed papers on Monday to establish an exploratory campaign committee to gauge his support for a presidential bid.
Yet, in an interview with the Topeka Capital Journal newspaper, he sounds like a full-fledged candidate who is putting together a plan for victory.
"I don’t see it as a long shot," he said. "I think once the candidates’ positions are known on the various topics, I’m going to win this."
And the other candidate’s positions likely won’t win them any favor with the pro-life movement.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Arizona Sen. John McCain, New York Governor George Pataki and Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney are some of the leading candidates for the Republican nomination.
But, both Giuliani and Pataki back abortion, they and McCain support forcing taxpayers to pay for embryonic stem cell research, and Romney is a recent pro-life convert who some pro-life advocates say changed his position in order to run for president.
Brownback told the newspaper what he lacks in funding or name identification he will make up for in aggressive campaigning. That will boost both and prove to the conservative Republicans who dominate the Iowa caucuses that he’s one of them.
"I will spend a lot of time in retail politics in the early primary states articulating where I stand," he said. "I am where the people stand."
"You can spend less because you connect readily," he explained in a news conference. "I have to improve my name identification. That can take place. With 24-hour news stations and the Internet, getting name identity up is a much easier prospect and process than it was before."
Other candidates are working Iowa as well and McCain and Romney, who wants to be seen as the conservative alternative, have already worked to build solid campaign organizations.
But Brownback said they lack his longtime dedication to the pro-life cause.
"I’m the one that has been there, is there and will be there in the future," he said.
Whether Brownback wins the nomination or not, his candidacy will challenge Republicans to make sure they select a pro-life nominee to take on the Democratic candidate, who will almost assuredly back abortion.
Lydia Saad a senior editor at the Gallup poll explains that the pro-life position has been a boon for Republican presidential candidates.
"National exit polling in every presidential election since 1984 has shown a net advantage to the pro-life side over the pro-choice side, based on the percentage of single-issue abortion voters in the electorate," Saad has said.
