NRLC Endorses Fred Thompson

It's official. The National Right to Life Committee endorsed Fred Thompson today. There was also this statement by Dr. Franz, NRLC President and this one by Karen Cross, NRL PAC Director. Fred Thompson issued this response.

What I find interesting in the press release from NRLC is statement: "In making its endorsement, National Right to Life considered the positions of candidates on the life issues, their records on life issues and their ability to win." (emphasis mine). That's why Mike Huckabee didn't get the endorsement. NRLC doesn't believe he has a chance of winning. Huckabee's pro-life position is more in line with NRLC's than Thompson's. Thompson doesn't support a constitutional ban on abortions and prefers to leave the issue up to the individual states. Huckabee favors a constitutional ban and I believe NRLC does too. It was the electability test more than anything that tilted the NRLC endorsement toward Thompson.

We'll see how the endorsement plays with the evangelical crowd. I believe many evangelicals prefer to have a constitutional ban on abortion. If abortion is wrong then it is wrong in every state. But a constitutional ban is unlikely to ever occur. The more realitic scenario is a reversal of Roe V. Wade and a return of the abortion issue to the individual states, which is what Thompson advocates. If this were to occur then we would have some states that would ban abortions and others that won't.

The NRLC endorsement won't unite all evangelicals behind Fred Thompson but it is a large organization that can make a difference in the primaries.

Jerome