GOP To Consider Abortion Litmus Test

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, Dec. 31) -- GOP candidates that don't hold party beliefs on abortion could find themselves out of the "big tent" and in the cold. Republican National Committee delegates will be asked to approve an abortion litmus test for candidates at their winter meeting in January.

More moderate Republicans oppose such a test, but Tim Lambert, the RNC national committeeman from Texas, is proposing denying party aid to any candidates who do not adopt the GOP position.

If accepted, this proposal would ban "support financially, or by in-kind contributions" to a candidate "who opposes measures to end so-called partial-birth abortions."

Brookings Institution scholar, Steven Hess, said Tuesday that the proposal would be "pretty bad precedent. When you reach the national level, the national chairmen like to talk about their parties as a big tent. They want people to come into the tent rather than have people pushed out of the tent."

Hess continued, saying there's a "tension between people who have to run for office and raise the money and those who in some ways are amateur politicians -- the ones who are more interested in their own intellectual and ideological purity."

Lambert is a member of the nine person resolutions committee that would send the proposal to the full RNC membership.

"Just because a person is a nominee of the party does not conclude they receive funding from the RNC," Lambert said. "Is the party obligated to support a nominee of the party regardless of their position? I don't think that if we had a candidate who was really great but was a pedophile, we wouldn't be having this discussion."

Lambert recalled the decision not to back David Duke, a former Klu Klux Klan member who failed in his runs for both the Senate and the Governorship of Louisiana.

"If we go back to the race issue I don't think we'd be having this discussion," he said.

President Bill Clinton has twice vetoed the late-term abortion ban and chastised Congress for not making allowances for the procedure when a woman's health is endangered.

The selection process for the GOP resolutions committee changed a year ago. It used to be that the panel was selected by the party chairman and was beholden to his views. Now the eight members are elected across the country and the chairman is appointed.

The current resolutions panel chairman, Charles Yab of Michigan, predicts the proposal would be sent to and approved by the full RNC in some form.

Yob says he expects to support the resolution, but is concerned about dictating terms to state parties that now make their own decision on how to allocate RNC money to candidates.

"I don't think we on the national committee can tell state parties to whom, and when, they can give money," Yob said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

In Other News:

Wednesday Dec. 31, 1997

• The Year's Top Political Stories
• New Year Brings New Laws
• GOP To Consider Abortion Litmus Test
• Clinton Retreats With Golf, Seminars And Dog Walking
• Thurmond Decides To Rest Longer In Hospital