Pro-Life Sen. Sam Brownback Will Officially Announce Prez Bid Soon 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
January 8, 2007
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback, a leading pro-life lawmaker on Capitol Hill, will make his quest for the Republican nomination official later this month. A spokesman said Brownback will make a trip to Kansas to officially announce his candidacy and then join tens of thousands of pro-life advocates in the annual March for Life.
Brownback set up an exploratory committee in December that allowed him to begin raising funds for a potential bid.
Several other potential GOP candidates for president have done that as well but none of the top group of contenders has made an official announcement seeking the party’s nomination.
Brian Hart, the senator’s spokesman, told the Chicago Sun-Times on Friday that Brownback "will be fully announcing on January 20 in Topeka, Kansas."
After the announcement, Brownback will return to Washington and will attend the pro-life march where pro-life advocates mourn the 34th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision that essentially allowed legalized abortion without any limits.
As LifeNews.com reported last week, Brownback picked up the endorsement of the director of the Iowa’s pro-life organization — important because the state is home to the first presidential caucus.
He secured the backing of Kim Lehman, president and executive director of Iowa Right to Life, a pro-life group with tens of thousands of members in Iowa.
"While other candidates are in the process of defining and refining their position at the start of this campaign, Senator Brownback has been principled, consistent and unwavering in his support for the right to life," she said.
In filing his exploratory papers for president last month, Brownback said he didn’t see his candidacy as a "long shot."
"I think once the candidates’ positions are known on the various topics, I’m going to win this," he said.
Brownback said candidates like pro-abortion former New York mayor Giuliani, pro-embryonic stem cell research Arizona Sen. McCain, and Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who recently became pro-life, 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.
Brownback has been a strong pro-life advocate on both abortion and bioethics issues and has a consistent 100 percent pro-life voting record on various pro-life issues from the National Right to Life Committee.
He has won strong support from the pro-life community for not only voting pro-life but serving as a key sponsor of legislation.
He sponsored a measure to allow the federal government to prohibit the use of the drugs in assisted suicides and has been the leading lawmaker behind a bill that would ban all forms of human cloning.
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.
