Evangelicals cool on GOP field

WASHINGTON, Oct. 19 (UPI) -- Conservative Christians meeting in Washington are trying to determine whether to add one of their own to the Republican presidential field.

Thousands of conservative Christians are attending a weekend conference sponsored by the Family Research Council, a Washington-based group that organizes conservatives.

The conference will highlight the uncertainty among activists for the current GOP field, with several prominent Christian conservatives vowing to throw their weight behind someone new if former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani continues to look like the Republican front-runner, The Washington Post reported Friday.

"A lot of people are going to vent," said Paul Weyrich, a conservative activist who helped found the Moral Majority.

None of the GOP contenders have won over evangelical support, a problem for the Republican Party because white evangelical Protestants represent nearly a quarter of the electorate and they voted overwhelmingly for President George Bush in 2000 and 2004, the Post reported.

Conservative Christians will have one fewer to choose from if Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., drops from the race as expected. Brownback's campaign has been aggressively targeting Christians.