Romney Gets Major Backer on the Right

By Michael Luo - New York Times
Tuesday, November 06, 2007 - Web Link
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November 6, 2007

Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign announced yesterday an endorsement from the man whom some consider the father of the religious right, Paul M. Weyrich, chairman of the Free Congress Foundation and a founder of the Moral Majority.

Mr. Weyrich, who also founded the Heritage Foundation, had been critical of talk this year among Christian conservative leaders about possibly bolting the Republican Party and backing a third-party candidate if Rudolph W. Giuliani, a supporter of abortion rights, is the nominee.

Now it appears that Mr. Weyrich is backing up that criticism with action, lining up behind Mr. Romney, despite questions many Christian conservatives continue to harbor about the candidate’s relatively recent conversion to opponent of abortion from supporter of abortion rights, as well as concerns about Mr. Romney’s being a Mormon.

Mr. Weyrich wrote a recent article about the conditions under which creating a third party might work. In an interview last month with The New York Times, he said discussion about that at this stage was premature and foolish. He has vigorously urged conservatives to unite behind a single candidate, rather than diluting power by splitting support.

Before Mr. Weyrich, Mr. Romney had lined up endorsements by social conservatives like James Bopp Jr., a well-known abortion opponent; Jay Sekulow, a prominent Christian conservative; and Bob Jones III, chancellor of Bob Jones University. But Romney lacked the backing of an elder statesman of the religious right, which Mr. Weyrich is considered.