Religious leaders rally behind Rick Santorum

In an effort to avoid a repeat of 2008, when social conservatives failed to rally behind a single Republican presidential candidate, a group of more than 100 religious leaders who gathered in Texas this week reached a consensus to support former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum.

Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council, said the decision was reached after three rounds of balloting, with Santorum winning 85 votes in the final round, to Newt Gingrich’s 29. Texas Gov. Rick Perry had strong support at the beginning of the process, but was eliminated after the first round of balloting, Perkins said.

“The focus here was on people putting aside their preferences, putting aside the candidate they had signed up with, trying to reach a consensus,” Perkins said.

“Rick Santorum has consistently articulated the issues that are of concern to conservatives, both the economic and the social, and has woven those into a very solid platform,” Perkins said. “And he has a record of stability…He’s reliable."

Three major issues guided the group: Repeal of the healthcare law that was passed in 2010, the national debt and government spending, and social conservative values.

“There were passionate speeches made on behalf of the various candidates, but there was this underlying desire to come to a consensus,” Perkins told reporters on a conference call after the event.

The decision means that Santorum, whose upstart campaign lacks money and organization, could benefit from the vast resources of a well-organized social conservative community, particularly as time runs out before the South Carolina primary.

Perkins said the group considered Santorum’s weaknesses, particularly in fundraising.

“Those issues can be corrected,” he said. “…With the strong consensus coming behind him, that can aid in the fundraising that he will need to be successful in the primary.”

Rick Tyler, a senior adviser for "Winning Our Future," a "super PAC" that supports Gingrich, said prominent members of the evangelical community are still backing Gingrich.

"The idea that evangelical leaders have all coalesced around one candidate is just factually not true," Tyler said.

Citing recent polls that show Gingrich surging in South Carolina, Tyler said supporting Santorum would create exactly the division that the conservative religious leaders were trying to avoid.

"If the goal was to get a consensus leader who is with them on their faith values, they're only helping Mitt Romney by endorsing Rick Santorum," Tyler said, because Santorum and Gingrich will split the evangelical vote in South Carolina, handing another win to Romney.

Gingrich spokesman R.C. Hammond cast the decision as a split "between Not Mitt and Not Mitt."

"Conservative evangelical leaders spoke very clearly today that Mitt Romney will not be the nominee," Hammond said. "It is encouraging for the Republican Party to have two choices in Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum."

Of frontrunner Mitt Romney, Perkins said there was “not a lot of time spent” discussing his candidacy.

“It was more a discussion of the positives of the conservative candidates and their vision for the future,” Perkins said. “It was not a bash Mitt Romney weekend…but it’s not news that there is not strong support among conservatives for Mitt Romney.”

Asked if the group discussed what it would do if Romney becomes the nominee, Perkins said that was “a conversation for another day.”

“There was not any discussion about, you know, what’s the Plan B if we don’t succeed in getting a true conservative nominated,” he said.

While some participants ultimately abandoned their first choice candidate in the interest of uniting the social conservative vote around a single contender, there was no discussion of pressuring Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich to drop out of the race to make way for Santorum, Perkins said.

In an email to supporters, Santorum said the endorsement, "reinvigorates our campaign. But it also presents new challenges."

"It will mean that we need to redouble our efforts in South Carolina and beyond," Sanotrum wrote. "We must ensure that we have the resources to reach 'values voters' with our consistent, conservative, pro-family message."

kim.geiger@latimes.com