Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, and Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. Weyrich, who has been involved in politics for decades, says twice Governor Huckabee had him "on the seat of his chair" during a recent forum. According to Weyrich, the former Baptist preacher "can speak like no other candidate."

"He is dynamic, he is exciting, he believes in all the right things," says Weyrich in describing the Arkansas governor. "I think that if conservatives really got behind him, that they would bump him up to be a first-tier candidate."

As for Newt Gingrich, Weyrich says the former Speaker is "always good out of office, but as soon as he gets in office, he isn't good anymore."

And when it comes to Romney, Weyrich offers a cautionary note, saying conservatives need to be wary, given the governor's flip-flopping on front-burner issues like abortion and homosexual "marriage."

"Governor Romney is going to make an attempt to sound like us," say Weyrich. "[But] I don't think he is; I don't think he's the genuine article. And I think he really ought to be closely examined, especially for the flip-flops he now claims he's done on abortion, on same-sex marriage, on any number of issues -- including hate crimes, by the way."

Weyrich likes Sam Brownback (R-KS) but doesn't think he'll make it:

describing him as a "wonderful" candidate for social conservatives, but one who lacks "fire in the belly" and is not likely to go very far.

If the religious right rallies around Gov. Huckabee the former Baptist preacher whose religious right credentials seem more in order than the former Mormon bishop from Massachussetts who has courted the religious right for months, this will put Romney in a tight spot.

Parenthetically, it will be interesting to see what Ralph Reed, the former head of Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition does this year. He has been laying low since losing the GOP primary for Lt. Governor of Georgia last year as the Abramoff scandal closed in on him. In one of the strangest political alliances in recent memory, Rudy Guiliani twice went to Georgia to headline fundraisers for the embattled former golden boy of Georgia GOP politics. Guiliani, as the twice-divorced, pro-choice, pro-gay rights,pro-gun control mayor of New York, was a spectacularly strange ally for the virulently antichoice, antigay, "family values" candidate. Indeed, some at the time described Guiliani as "a blatant adutering cousin fucker." It is an episode that Guiliani would probably rather forget, but his opponents are likely to remind voters of at every opportunity. Guiliani had built his career as a corruption fighting federal prosecutor. And here he was, campaigning for a man near the center of one of the biggest Washington corruption scandals in American history -- a scandal that was partly unearthed by his prospective presidential rival Sen. John McCain who had chaired investigative hearings on the bilking of Indian tribes by Jack Abramoff and Reed. It was a very strange episode that told GOP primary voters some things they may not have known about the character of both Guiliani and Reed.

Digg
del.icio.us
Newsvine
Reddit
stumbleupon
Facebook