Does party loyalty run both ways among Republican senators? That
remains to be seen after Republican Majority for Choice (RMC), a
pro-abortion caucus within the GOP, began a spirited attack on Sen.
Rick Santorum this week.
RMC launched full- and quarter-page ads in nearly
every major daily newspaper in Pennsylvania — mock “Help Wanted”
announcements calling for “Real Republican
Candidates for Senate.” The ad advocates “the Big Tent philosophy
Ronald Reagan helped to build,” and warns in bold, “Candidates who
claim to be Republicans but instead use the Party to further their
own personal or religious agenda need not apply.” While the ad
never names Santorum explicitly, its pro-abortion and
anti-religious opposition to him is unmistakable.
With eight days between the launch of the ad campaign and the
March 7 petition filing deadline for the Pennsylvania primaries,
the search for “real” Republican primary opponents to Santorum
appears half-hearted. Two thousand signatures would be required for
a challenger to make it on to the ballot. Rather than a search,
RMC’s ad campaign could signal open hostility among Republican
senators. This move comes in the midst of speculation that Kate Michelman, former
president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, will run as an independent
in the Senate race.
Jennifer Blei Stockman, national co-chair of the RMC, confirmed
that while the group is targeting Santorum, its strategy looks past
the March 7 filing deadline. She told TAS Thursday that
her group had “exhausted” all possibilities for candidates in the
past several months. While RMC hopes another candidate “surfaces,”
Stockman said, “The ad is meant to be somewhat tongue-in-cheek,
that we cannot continue electing candidates like Rick Santorum
because he’s not helping the party’s image.”
The RMC campaign places Sen. Arlen Specter in a precarious
position, as he sits on the group’s advisory committee. In a move widely viewed as placing
party loyalty over conservative principles, Santorum backed the
pro-abortion Specter in the 2004 Senate primary against kindred
conservative then-Rep. Pat Toomey. Now with Santorum on the ropes, liberal Republicans are refusing
to return the favor — and Arlen Specter’s name is attached to
their effort.
Joe Sterns, Pat Toomey’s former press secretary, told
TAS that Specter should oppose the RMC ad campaign. “It’s
a fair commentary on the pro-abortion rights Republicans,” he said.
“It betrays their hypocrisy as preachers of a big tent. I would
encourage Senator Specter and others of their ilk to use their
leadership to tell this group to knock it off.”
When TAS contacted Specter’s office about the ad
Thursday, he disavowed it in a statement: “While I am on the
Advisory Committee, my advice was neither solicited nor given on
the ad. My preference would be to be a little more conciliatory in
trying to bring together the various elements of our party.
Regardless of the sentiments expressed in the ad, my number one
priority for 2006 continues to be the reelection of Senator
Santorum.” Specter’s office would not answer questions as to
whether the senator plans to protest the ad to RMC’s leadership or
resign from the group.
Another pro-abortion Republican senator on the RMC advisory
committee benefiting from the party’s large tent is Sen. Lincoln
Chafee of Rhode Island. To the chagrin of conservatives, the National Republican Senatorial
Committee is supporting the liberal Republican over his
conservative challenger, Cranston Mayor Stephen Laffey. Chafee is
also the choice of NARAL Pro-Choice America.
Chafee’s office declined to voice disapproval of RMC’s tactics.
Stephen Hourahan, Chafee’s press secretary, told TAS,
“Senator Chafee supports all of his Republican colleagues and he is
committed to their reelection.” Hourahan denied that the ad targets
Sen. Santorum. Officials from the Chafee campaign were unavailable
for comment.
RMC co-chair Stockman argued that Santorum merits such
extraordinary attention and opposition because his emphasis on
social conservatism is hurting the party and his own candidacy. “We
think there’s a line that needs to be drawn between more extremist
Republicans like Rick Santorum, who are there for more social
issues, and the more important economic issues. He distracts from
that agenda by bringing up these controversial issues. It confuses
people as to where the Republican Party stands today.”
Pressed to define better RMC’s views, Stockman acknowledged that
the group didn’t support or oppose the federal partial birth
abortion ban, but said, “We’re a conservative group on other
issues. We’re fiscal conservatives. We support our President in the
war against terrorism. But we do draw the line at proselytizing. We
think that’s completely inappropriate for politics.”
The RMC is using the same strategy as conservative interest
groups within the Republican Party, Stockman insisted. “We’ve
always kept our mouths shut. This is the first time in our history
that we’re going after one of our own,” she said. “We think the
only way to create a dialogue on these important issues is by
playing by the same rules as the Club for Growth, the National
Right to Life Committee has been playing by, by going after
candidates we don’t agree with.” Stockman said that regardless of
her group’s differences with Santorum, it would “never support a
Casey.” Bob Casey Jr. is the frontrunner for the Democratic
nomination in the Senate race and claims
to be pro-life.
How Senators Specter and Chafee handle the anti-Santorum
maneuvers of the Republican Majority for Choice will be telling.
Certain pro-life and conservative Republicans chose party unity and
even personal interest over principled politics when they turned on
Toomey. If Specter and Chafee continue to lend their names to the
Republican Majority for Choice, conservative Republicans will be
revealed as cynical politicians who shovel money to their
ideological opponents.
UPDATE: On late Friday, Senator Specter released a
letter defending Santorum and distancing himself from the RMC’s
advertisements. It is posted at AmSpecBlog.
