Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 16, 1995 TAG: 9504170085
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Robertson's was the latest in a series of warnings from religious conservatives about the risk the party will take if it abandons or downplays its longstanding opposition to abortion.
``We don't like to make ultimatums, and I can't speak for all the people, but I think their lack of enthusiasm could bring the ticket down, because these are the field troops who do the work, stuff the envelopes, knock on the doors, make the telephone calls and give the money,'' Robertson said on the CNN program ``Evans and Novak.'' ``We really need to keep that conservative wing of the party active.''
But he also held out two olive branches to Republican leaders hoping to mute the divisive abortion issue: He dismissed discussion among some religious conservatives about starting a third party to press social issues, and he left the door open to softening the hard line against abortion in the GOP platform.
The GOP platform commits the party to supporting a constitutional ``human life amendment'' that would ban abortion. But with polls showing a clear majority of Americans opposed to banning abortion, even leading Republican candidates who describe themselves as anti-abortion have been notable in their absence of enthusiasm for that position.
Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, for instance, has said that, if elected, he would not seek to overturn the Supreme Court's Roe vs. Wade decision guaranteeing the legal right to abortion. And Friday, Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole hedged his support for the human life amendment language in the platform.
``I supported the human life amendment one time,'' he said after a rally in his hometown of Russell, Kan. ``I'm not certain of that [now].''
In the field, only conservative commentator Pat Buchanan, former State Department official Alan Keyes and Rep. Bob Dornan of Garden Grove, Calif. - all of whom are long shots - are stressing opposition to abortion. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., who announced his candidacy last month, and California Gov. Pete Wilson, who is expected to declare next month, support abortion rights.
During the past year, a small group of conservatives, including GOP strategist Bill Kristol, has been circulating proposed platform language that would reaffirm the party's opposition to abortion but drop the specific reference to the human life amendment. In his comments Saturday, Robertson did not directly endorse that approach, but he echoed the arguments of its sponsors.
Discussion of a human life amendment, he said, ``at this point in time is a meaningless exercise. There is no way, given the present makeup of Congress, that we could get a two-thirds vote for a constitutional amendment banning abortion. It's just not possible.''
Robertson described the anti-abortion section in the GOP platform as ``language of principle'' and added that he ``would hate to see the Republican Party go away from that principle.''
In an interview Saturday, Kristol said Robertson's comments were encouraging to those seeking revisions in the platform.
``It is very important that Robertson has signaled that the Republican Party can continue as a principled pro-life party without tying it to the language of past platforms,'' Kristol said.
Robertson was much less conciliatory about the prospect of nominating either a presidential or vice-presidential candidate who supports abortion rights. His comments echoed the controversial remarks by Ralph Reed, executive director of Robertson's 1.5 million member Christian Coalition,who warned in February that social conservatives would not back a GOP ticket that included an abortion-rights supporter.
Dole, Gramm and other GOP contenders criticized those remarks as an improper attempt to impose a ``litmus test'' on the party. Reed insisted that he had not meant to threaten the party, only to warn Republicans of the likely consequences if it included a supporter of abortion rights on the ticket.
Asked specifically Saturday about Wilson, Robertson said he did not consider him a serious contender for the nomination. Robertson praised front-runner Dole, who has never stirred much enthusiasm among religious conservatives in the past, saying that ``he's a couple of laps ahead of any other candidate right now'' in a polling of Christian Coalition members.
The race ``is his to lose,'' Robertson said.
by CNB