Mike Pence Discussed as Potential Pro-Life Presidential Candidate in 2012
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
September 24, 2010
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Since pro-life Congressman Mike Pence won the Values Voter Summit straw poll on Saturday, discussion within conservative circles has centered on whether the Indiana Republican would consider a bid for the GOP nomination to challenge pro-abortion President Barack Obama.
Whether Pence challenge Obama, political observers say the sky is the limit for the highly-respected and articulate pro-life advocate.
Pence ultimately finished with 24 percent of the vote at the pro-family event — good enough to rise above the most talked about presidential hopefuls. Mike Huckabee finished a close second, Mitt Romney came in third, Newt Gingrich fourth and Sarah Palin fifth.
Pence received almost twice as many votes as Romney, more than twice as many as Gingrich and more than three times as many votes as Palin.
The congressman has demurred in any talk of a presidential bid — telling The Hill “people ask me if I’ve ever thought about it, and I tell them, ‘No more or no less than anybody else who grew up with a cornfield in their backyard.’"
“I’m totally focused on winning back the American Congress for conservative candidates,” Pence said previously.
But one Republican congressman says he thinks his colleague will run for president.
“I think [Pence is] actually going to do that. I think he’s actually going to dip his toe in there,” the lawmaker told The Hill.
Pence has shown ambition before — he challenged pro-life Minority Leader John Boehner and was eventually given a top leadership post after losing by a large margin to the veteran Ohio representative. However, he did pass up a chance to run for the Senate when pro-abortion Sen. Evan Bayh announced his retirement in what has become a potential banner Republican election year.
Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels is term limited and Pence could consider seeking the post of the other possible Indiana Republican presidential hopeful.
Should Pence decide to run for president, he will likely have significant support from pro-life voters thanks in part to is leadership on stopping taxpayer funding of abortions and de-funding the Planned Parenthood abortion business. Pence has also made no bones about his opposition to the "truce" his own governor, Daniels, has called on social issues like abortion.
“Now I know some say that Republicans should stay away from such issues this year…that the American people are focused on jobs and spending and our movement would do well to stand aside, bank the win and return to fight after this fiscal and economic crisis has passed," he said during the Values Voter Summit.
“But we do not live in a world where an American leader can just focus on our financial ledger. A political party that would govern this great nation must be able to handle more than one issue at a time. We must focus on our fiscal crisis and support our troops. We must work to create jobs and protect innocent human life," he continued.
Pence continued, "To those who say we should focus on cutting spending, I say ‘Ok, let’s start by denying all federal funding for abortion at home and abroad! Stop funding research that destroys human embryos in the name of science, and let’s deny any and all funding to Planned Parenthood of America.’"
“We must not remain silent when great moral battles are being waged. Those who would have us ignore the battle being fought over life … have forgotten the lessons of history. As in the days of a House divided, America’s darkest moments have come when economic arguments trumped moral principles," he said. “Men and women, we must demand, here and now, that the leaders of the Republican Party stand for life" and to do so "without apology."
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