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Wednesday, Nov 7, 2007 3:01 PM UTC

Robertson for Giuliani, Brownback for McCain

High-profile endorsements in the race for the religious right.

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Topics: 2008 Elections, War Room, John McCain, R-Ariz., Sam Brownback, R-Kan., Rudy Giuliani,

Rudy Giuliani and John McCain go head-to-head today in the endorsement race: Giuliani gets the nod from televangelist Pat Robertson, while McCain picks up Sen. Sam Brownback.

The endorsement from Robertson may help Giuliani with religious conservatives but should send up a red flag for everybody else: In recent years, Robertson has advocated the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, told residents of a Pennsylvania town that rejected efforts to teach intelligent design in public schools that they shouldn’t be surprised if God abandons them, and joined Jerry Falwell in suggesting that 9/11 was God’s retaliation for America’s secular ways.

Brownback’s endorsement of McCain may help him shore up support from Christian conservatives, especially in Iowa, but it’s not as if the Kansas senator has a sea of voters at his beck and call; he left the race last month in the face of low poll numbers and relatively paltry fundraising totals.

Today’s losers? Mitt Romney, who could plainly use some help with the religious right, and Mike Huckabee, whose up-and-coming campaign would have gotten another boost from the sort of endorsements Giuliani and McCain will be talking up today. We’d say that the Robertson and Brownback endorsements put Fred Thompson in the “loser” camp for the day, too, only it seems like he’s already there.

Tim Grieve is a senior writer and the author of Salon's War Room blog. More Tim Grieve.

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