Conservative Republicans split endorsements

By Andrea Hopkins

DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) - Two leading Christian conservatives split their presidential endorsements on Wednesday, with Republican front-runner Rudy Giuliani winning surprise backing from evangelist Pat Robertson despite the former New York mayor's support of abortion rights.

Republican candidate John McCain took the endorsement of Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback, a conservative who quit the race for the November 2008 presidential election last month.

Robertson, a one-time presidential candidate himself, gave his backing to Giuliani in Washington because he has stated his personal opposition to abortion and his willingness to appoint conservative Supreme Court judges like Chief Justice John Roberts.

"He understands the need for a conservative judiciary," said Robertson, who founded the influential Christian Coalition and a religious broadcasting empire. "We have some patterns that he said he will follow. That's what he's told the American people and I believe him."

Giuliani has led the field for the Republican nomination for the presidential election but conservatives have questioned his support of abortion rights, gay rights and gun control, as well as his two divorces. Some even have raised the possibility of backing a third-party candidate.

Instead of those hot-button issues, Robertson said the most important concern for him was fighting "Islamic terrorists" and that Giuliani's performance during the September 11 attacks in 2001 showed he was best suited to deal with the threat.

McCain, an Arizona senator who has had an uneasy relationship with conservative Christians, took a step toward bolstering his right flank with the backing of Brownback.

Brownback, a Roman Catholic, ended his White House bid after spending more money than he raised amid dwindling support.

"John McCain is the only candidate who can rally the Reagan coalition of conservatives, independents and conservative Democrats needed to defeat Hillary Clinton or any other Democrat in the general election," the Kansas senator said.

BLOW TO ROMNEY, HUCKABEE

McCain tried to squeeze the maximum advantage out of the endorsement by traveling across Iowa with Brownback in tow, holding news conferences in key cities.

Iowa is the first of the state-by-state battles to choose the Democratic and Republican candidates who will face off in the presidential election on November 4 of next year.

"Sam Brownback is a man of faith and compassion whose integrity and unwavering commitment to protecting the dignity of human life, both born and unborn, has been an inspiration to me," McCain said.

The endorsements came as a blow to former governors Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee, who trail Giuliani in national polls but have won support from family-values voters both in early voting state Iowa and across the country.

In Waterloo, Iowa, Huckabee shrugged off the news and said the endorsements were an attempt by Giuliani and McCain to compete with him for the evangelical vote. He said even the improbable matchup of Giuliani and Robertson was no surprise.