So far McCain, Brownback, and Tancredo have had it relatively easy preaching to the choir. No surprises there. The question on everyone's minds here is what kind of red meat can Giuliani throw this conservative audience when he takes the podium tomorrow?
The two problems this crowd has with Giuliani is that he's pro-choice and has gay friends. Since he can't gain any ground with social conservatives on those issues, he'll have to point to the accomplishments under his belt that do appeal to value voters. His line so far has been that conservatives shouldn't let the perfect be the enemy of the good and that he's on the right side of the issues that matter most (9/11! 9/11!):
"There are always some differences. But that I ask you to look at the whole candidate and the whole picture of what we face in 2008 and going forward...The idea is going to be that there’s enough for us to agree about and enough that we’re facing in terms of the outside world, meaning foreign threats and domestic problems in terms of spending and everything else, that may just be [when] they think about it that I’m the best candidate and we’re certainly not at odds."
But there are a few social issues on which Giuliani can legitimately claim a conservative victory. Jim Geraghty has the details from a source close to the campaign:
"Getting rid of porn shops in Times Square - I think people may have forgotten what Times Square in 1992 was like" - his efforts against the dung-painting of Mary at the Brooklyn Art Museum exhibit, his creation of the Administration for Children's Services and the drop in the abortion rate. "He can say, 'here are some tangible things I can point to. Now ask the others, 'what are the things you can point to?''