Self-described
''values voters'' gathered in Fort Lauderdale,
Fla., Monday to grill Republican presidential
candidates, but the forum was most notable for its
empty lecterns and its unanswered questions.
The biggest GOP
names--Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, John McCain, and
Fred Thompson--sat out the Values Voter
Presidential Debate, citing scheduling conflicts. That
didn't stop questioners from addressing the front-runners
who didn't attend.
Giuliani, Romney,
and McCain were all asked questions about abortion and
gay rights. All, of course, went unanswered.
''They will
regret the decision,'' said Jan Folger, president of
Faith2Action and a member of the debate host committee.
''Because they snubbed us, they will not win, because
we will not follow their lead.''
In attendance
were former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, Sen. Sam
Brownback of Kansas, Chicago businessman John Cox, Maryland
conservative activist Alan Keyes, and congressmen
Ron Paul of Texas, Tom Tancredo of Colorado, and
Duncan Hunter of California.
The debate was
marked more by the candidates' agreement than anything
else, illustrated in a round in which they were asked a
string of yes-or-no questions.
All seven
participants said they would work to keep federal funding
away from organizations that perform or promote
abortions; to revive an attempt to reform Social
Security by offering personal retirement accounts; and
to oppose a government-run universal health insurance
system.
They all vowed to
increase funding for abstinence education, to veto
hate-crimes legislation, and to oppose embryonic stem cell
research. They all agreed multiculturalism ''weakens
and divides'' the country.
Candidates were
asked about combating radical Islam and their positions
on free trade and open borders between Mexico and Canada.
''This country
can never, ever ever yield its sovereignty to any other
country,'' Huckabee said. ''We do not answer to
international law. We answer to our Constitution.''
Paul called for
an end to U.S. involvement with the United Nations.
Hunter derided free-trade agreements as one-sided and not
beneficial to the U.S. Brownback defended the
military's ''don't ask, don't tell'' policy on gays.
Though all four
front-runners cited scheduling conflicts with the debate,
Giuliani was in Fort Lauderdale just hours before the
debate, and Thompson was in Florida over the weekend
and is due back Tuesday. (Matt Sedensky, AP)