The One to Stop Rudy

By Lee Bandy
SouthCarolina Insider

(12/6/07) After months of languishing in last place in the polls here, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has emerged as the top “conservative” candidate to stop Rudy Giuliani.

He is the one presidential candidate who stands a chance of ending the presidential ambitions of the socially liberal former New York mayor, conservative leaders say.

Romney fits the profile, they maintain. He’s tough-minded, a clear thinker, well respected, open-minded and squeaky clean.

But first he must slay a fellow conservative Republican, former Arkansas governor and ordained Southern Baptist minister Mike Huckabee to accomplish his mission.

That will not come easy with new polls showing Huckabee’s candidacy on the rise. He has moved ahead of Romney in the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses.

The two are virtually dead even in South Carolina.

Romney’s plan is to win the early contests – Iowa, New Hampshire, Michigan and South Carolina – and to sail on to the nomination, eliminating Giuliani along the way.

The preparation didn’t come easy for Romney. He had to court and woo a bunch of skeptical Southerners and convince them he didn’t wear horns.

Southerners, known for their hospitality, were reluctant to welcome this Yankee into their homes.

Being from Massachusetts, that hot bed of liberalism, complicated his well intentioned efforts. He was suspect from the moment he set foot in South Carolina.

His flip-flop on such hot button issues as abortion and same-sex marriage (He now opposes both.) crippled his plans to reach out to evangelicals, who make up a third of the GOP primary voters.

If that were not enough, Romney’s Mormon faith threatened to torpedo his election campaign. The Southern Baptist church, the largest denomination in the South, labeled Mormonism a cult.

In short, Romney survived the Southern Inquisition – South Carolina style.

Today, Romney runs the best campaign organization in South Carolina. Many of the same people who ran George Bush’s successful 2000 presidential campaign against U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona, are deeply committed to keeping Romney’s candidacy alive.

Romney wasn’t about to cede the right to anyone. He knew what he had to do, and that was to get into a position to win the S.C. GOP primary on Jan. 19.

There were times when he and his people wondered whether it was worth it all. For months Romney’s campaign was stuck in neutral. He couldn’t get it out of single digits no matter how hard he tried.

Romney is not home free yet, however.

A Clemson University Palmetto Poll taken Nov. 14-27 shows an extremely tight race between Romney (17 percent), former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee (15 percent), Huckabee (13) persent), McCain (11 percent) and Giuliani (9 percent).

“Mike Huckabee has made it onto the radar of voters in the state,” said Clemson University political scientist Dave Woodard.

Twenty-eight percent of the S.C, Republican voters remain undecided.

Republican voters clearly were not thrilled with their choices.

Asked if they are likely to stick with their choices or change their minds between now and January, a whopping 65 percent said they are likely to change their minds.

The truth of the matter is South Carolina is up for grabs.