November 7, 2007 9:44 AM

My friends can beat up your friends...

There are two big endorsements today in the Republican presidential race:

* Sen. John McCain has picked up the support of his Capitol Hill colleague, Sen. Sam Brownback, who built a small but enthusiastic following of social conservatives before he dropped out of the presidential contest last month.

* Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani won the endorsement of religious broadcaster Pat Robertson, one of the icons of the Christian conservative movement that supposedly is so divided over the prospects of Giuliani nomination.

McCain and Brownback are running around together today in Iowa, a place where Brownback had been far more active than McCain before the end of his campaign. Although Brownback caused a few raised eybrows recently when he had a cordial meeting with Giuliani, his endorsement of a longtime Senate colleague was not too surprising.

A bigger surprise was Robertson's embrace of Giuliani, who has been trying to overcome outright suspicion from some evangelical Christians and anti-abortion activists. Some have threatened to back a third-party candidate if Giuliani, a past supporter of abortion rights, becomes the Republican standard-bearer.

Already, some folks -- including the headline writers on FoxNews -- are asking: "Has Giuliani locked up GOP base?"

But to us, Robertson's endorsement is a major Iowa story -- with a 1988 flashback.

Back then, when the author of this blog was a skinny college journalist covering his first Iowa caucuses, Robertson shook the political establishment by topping a sitting vice president (George H.W. Bush) and finishing second to Bob Dole in the Iowa Caucuses.

The 1988 vote:

* Dole, 37 percent

* Robertson, 25 percent

* Bush, 19 percent

* Jack Kemp, 11 percent

* "Pete" duPont, 7 percent

We'll always remember how Robertson was mobbed by reporters that night at the convention center in Des Moines and said (with a memorable sparkle in his eye) how it was a sign that his base of religious conservatives was much more powerful than any of the pollsters imagined.

That proved to be the high point of Robertson's campaign, and Bush quickly regained his footing to win the nomination. Since then, Robertson's national profile might have diminished, but there are long memories of his big night in Iowa.

That's why his endorsement could mean more here than anywhere else.

Giuliani skipped the Iowa GOP's straw poll in August. And he has been downplaying the state while focusing on a big national strategy. That has left an opening for former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Baptist minister, who recently overtook Giuliani in the Iowa polls.

Huckabee has poured all his energy into Iowa and has been trying to get religious conservatives to (finally) unite behind his candidacy. Polls suggest he has had some success of late. But Wednesday's news certainly won't help.

* * *

Horse-race ramifications aside, the group Media Matters for America has been trying to draw attention to the long list of controversies Robertson has sparked -- including his call for assassinating Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Get a sampling HERE.

Posted by M.E. Sprengelmeyer at 9:44 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack