Family advocate doesn’t want to be president
By DJ Slater
Wausau Daily Herald
dslater@wdhprint.com
As the campaign season for the 2008 presidential election continues to heat up, the Republican picture came slightly into focus after a potential candidate denied rumors that he’ll join the fray.
Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C., and a national advocate for the preservation of Judeo-Christian values, told the Daily Herald on Thursday that he will not run for president in next year’s election.
Even with the Republican Party nomination up for grabs, the presidency does not interest him, he said.
“No, I don’t (have any interest),” Perkins said. “None whatsoever.”
The speculation of Perkins’ interest stemmed from a meeting he attended Sept. 29 in Salt Lake City with conservative leaders. As they discussed the presidential field, concerns rose over the possibility of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani winning the nomination.
In such a scenario, Perkins said he would support a third-party candidate, mainly because of Giuliani’s abortion rights stance.
“That would be a point we could not support,” he said.
Perkins, who was a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2002, served in Louisiana’s Legislature for eight years before joining the Family Research Council in 2003.
Although he has observed the field of candidates, he couldn’t pinpoint one who supported all the values he promotes. The problem, he said, is the candidates each support portions of his beliefs, but not all of them.
If he had to choose, Perkins said he’d lean toward candidates such as Rep. Duncan Hunter, Sens. John McCain and Sam Brownback and former Sen. Fred Thompson, with Hunter as his favorite.
If any candidate is to break away from the rest, Perkins thinks it will happen about two weeks from now at the Voter Value Summit in Washington, D.C., an event Perkins will host.
“That event could be the point when we see a conservative begin to emerge,” he said. “I’m very optimistic that there will be a very solid pro-life, pro-family candidate.”
