Monday May 7, 2007 12:16 AM
AP Photo SCMC106, SCMC103, SCMC102
By LIBBY QUAID
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani may be able to overcome his support for abortion rights with primary voters who oppose abortion, GOP lawmakers said Sunday.
``I think it's an uphill fight on that issue,'' House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said. ``But I think a lot of Republican voters see Rudy Giuliani as competent and able to do the job.''
The former New York mayor, who leads GOP candidates in public opinion polls, has drawn criticism for supporting abortion rights and public money for some abortions.
Giuliani says he would appoint conservative justices similar to Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito, President Bush's appointees.
In a GOP debate last week, Giuliani said ``it would be OK'' if the Supreme Court upholds Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision legalizing abortion. ``It would be OK to repeal it. It would be OK also if a strict constructionist viewed it as precedent,'' Giuliani said.
The other nine GOP candidates want the landmark ruling overturned.
Yet one of them, Rep. Tom Tancredo, agreed it is possible for Giuliani to win the nomination.
``Because one of the things that happens, of course, is that Republicans start looking at alternatives and saying, `Oh my gosh, even if Mayor Giuliani is a pro-choice, or at least a flip-flop, candidate on this issue, maybe he will appoint strict constructionists and that sort of thing,'' Tancredo said.
``And God knows we don't want the alternative, being whoever the Democrats have in place,'' Tancredo said.
Boehner was on ``Fox News Sunday,'' while Tancredo appeared on ``This Week'' on ABC.
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WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) - Sen. Barack Obama renewed his call for withdrawal from Iraq on Sunday and took a swipe at homestate Republican Sen. Charles Grassley for not agreeing.
The Democratic presidential hopeful also talked up the need for education reform and promoted a forthcoming universal health care plan.
``We intend to force our colleagues in the Senate and House to take vote after vote until we overcome (the president's) veto,'' Obama told a crowd of about 200 at a middle school. ``I'm not going to name names, but there's at least one senator in Iowa who could be helpful.''
That was an obvious reference to Grassley. The other Iowa senator is Tom Harkin, a staunch Democrat who opposes the war.
``We all have to work diligently to make sure we get the votes'' to force President Bush to accept troop restrictions on new funding legislation for the war, Obama said.
He cut his day in Iowa short because of threatening weather, but also spoke to congregants at Antioch Baptist Church in Waterloo. He moved up his speaking time at the church so he could return to Chicago before a thunderstorm hit the region.
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WASHINGTON (AP) - Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd is behind in the 2008 presidential polls, behind in the money chase, behind in organizing. Yet he says it is too soon to write him off.
``John Kerry would tell you he was at 4 percent in the poll with three weeks to go, 32 points behind Howard Dean in New Hampshire, and won the nomination,'' Dodd said. ``Bill Clinton was at 2 percent in the polls in October of '91. Polling data at this point doesn't make a lot of difference.''
The six-term senator from Connecticut added: ``We're running a very aggressive, very strong campaign, and people, I think, believe that this is a time for people with experience here. On-the-job training after six years of the Bush administration - people want people in this job that know how to do this, how to bring people together.''
Dodd was interviewed on ``Fox News Sunday.''
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WASHINGTON (AP) - Enthusiasm for potential presidential candidate Fred Thompson shows unease with the current GOP field, the House Republican leader said Sunday.
More than 50 House Republicans met last month with Thompson, the actor-politician who plays district attorney Arthur Branch on NBC's ``Law & Order.''
``Well, I thought that that was fascinating that that many of our members, basically 25 percent of our conference, would show up to meet with Fred Thompson,'' said House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio.
``And it kind of indicates the same thing that I'm feeling as I go around the country,'' he said. ``There's some interest in a number of the candidates who are out there, but there seems to be some uneasiness and some desire for somebody else.''
Asked about former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who also is considering a race for president, Boehner said: ``Newt's a friend. He's got an 800-pound brain, as I like to say, and could make things rather interesting.''
Boehner appeared on ``Fox News Sunday.''
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WASHINGTON (AP) - The 2008 presidential campaign is like a reality show, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich says.
``There are a lot of smart people who are running very hard,'' said Gingrich, who is considering getting into the race. ``But they have allowed themselves to be talked into a consultant-driven model, which is the equivalent - it's a mixture of `American Idol,' `The Bachelor' and `Survivor.'''
Gingrich said recent candidate debates ``were ludicrous.''
``In the debate the other night, the Republicans averaged seven minutes and 20 seconds apiece, split up into 25- to 30-second answers,'' he said. ``The television celebrities dominate these things. They cut people off. They treat them with disrespect.
``The potential president of the United States, the most powerful governing office in the world, shrinks with each appearance in these shows, and we don't have a national discussion.''
Gingrich has been arguing for a different style of debating than the rules, time limits and moderator that come with traditional presidential debates.
``Whoever the two nominees are, they should agree in advance to 90-minute dialogue - time keeper, but no moderator - 90 minutes a week, for nine weeks, from Labor Day to the election. Let the American people have in their living room a chance to see two adults.''
He was interviewed on ``Face the Nation'' on CBSD.
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PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (AP) - Presidential hopeful Bill Richardson traipsed up a mountain of woodchips and called for increased investment in alternate energy sources, such as the wood-burning power plant he toured Sunday.
The Democratic New Mexico governor and former energy secretary said Public Service Company of New Hampshire's Schiller plant could be a model for future investments and could help reduce reliance on fossil fuels.
``It shows if we're ingenious, we can have renewable fuel and renewable energy as the main source for the future,'' he said, wood chips still clinging to his navy blazer. ``Even if it means government subsidies, I would be supportive of that.''
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Associated Press writers Henry C. Jackson in Waterloo, Iowa, and Philip Elliott in Portsmouth, N.H., contributed to this report.
