Ban Abortion - 2012 Presidential Candidate

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/27/mike-pence-military-hawk-_n_801547.html

Excerpt:

When conservative activist and former presidential candidate Gary Bauer scans the potential 2012 Republican field, not much excites him. "All the obvious frontline names have all the usual pluses and minuses," Mr. Bauer says.

But in considering one candidate, Mr. Bauer sees only qualities that he likes. Indiana Rep. Mike Pence is a military and fiscal hawk who frequently plugs his Christian credentials. To some, he's the potential candidate best able to unite two wings of the Republican Party—its fiscal conservatives and social conservatives.

"He is definitely the guy to watch," says Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association, a group that opposes gay marriage and abortion.

Now, Mr. Pence has a decision to make: While he says he is seriously weighing a run for the White House, many signs point to him running for Indiana governor in 2012 instead. No one else mulling a presidential run faces a similar quandary. Mr. Pence says he plans to announce his decision early next year.

"I'd put money on him running for governor over president, because the field is a lot smaller and he wouldn't be running against an incumbent," says Indiana's recently retired GOP chairman, Murray Clark.

Mr. Pence usually draws under 5% in voter surveys testing the emerging 2012 field. But the excitement he's stirred among a swath of conservatives—he won a straw poll at the prominent Values Voter Summit in September—points both to the fluidity of the 2012 lineup and the dearth of names rousing interest among the religious right, a dependable GOP voting bloc.

Mr. Bauer believes that if Mr. Pence ran, he would quickly build support among socially conservative voters. "The nomination battle would be very wide open without Mike," Mr. Bauer says, who is one of several activists urging Mr. Pence to join the nomination fight.

A former radio personality, the 51-year-old Mr. Pence became a darling among fiscal conservatives for opposing two of President George W. Bush's signature initiatives, the 2001 No Child Left Behind education act and the 2003 Medicare Part D drug benefit. He saw both as violating his party's small-government principles.

Mr. Pence favors reducing the size of the federal government, and even the power of the presidency. He wants to amend the Constitution both to ban abortions and to allow marriage only between men and women. He says increased security along the Mexican border must precede any immigration overhaul.

Mr. Pence was also among the first congressmen to jump on the tea-party wave in early 2009, speaking at rallies across Indiana and in Washington.

It was his speech at the Values Voter Summit, a marquee annual event among social conservative groups, which did the most to rouse support. The speech, with its calls to ban all federal abortion funding and stem-cell research, drew standing ovations and chants of "President Pence."

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[JamesDestry1]

Although i hate abortion, i'd rather women get a doctor's abortion rather than a coat hanger abortion.

[luvm1chael]

VOTE 4 RON PAUL!

[MrEnlighteneddespot]

@vadarman9906 That is very true.

[MrEnlighteneddespot]

@bosasosolja No person has the right to take an innocent life, and the fetus is an innocent life. Such a premise does not need debating.

[vadarman9906]

@lostluver23 Religious people are not the only ones who are against abortion.I know a lot of atheists and they all are against abortion. Either way you look at it it's killing someone before they can live and that's just wrong. In fact I found out about some people who actually survived abortions so they know what it's like to be the one they're killing. I mean, just imagine yourself in that position.

[CommanderCheckov]

@bosasosolja hold on, are you saying they have no right to [if abortion is murder, that is] prevent others from committing murder? What both arguments rely on is: 'is abortion murder' because no one has the right to 'choose murder' if it is.

[lostluver23]

@eurasianchica I'm sorry are you calling me an atheist? But anyways, again, I think it's wrong to kill an unborn child... and I totally understand where you and millions of other people stand on the subject matter and get why you feel this way. My biggest problem is the men... men should have no say in this matter unless it is their child. But it's the men in government who are passing laws about it and they shouldn't... one because they're men and two they will never fully understand it.

[eurasianchica]

@lostluver23 All right, that's great that you know abortion is wrong :) And I agree, people have the right to do what they want with their own bodies, but help me understand - how does this extend to killing a separate person (the unborn)? Now, I totally understand that it's annoying when people try to force their religious views on you - but don't you think that killing a baby is wrong, even for an atheist?

[lostluver23]

@eurasianchica Ok... I get it... abortion is wrong and I never said it wasn't! Personally I would never do it but everyone has the right to do whatever they want with their bodies! But it ALWAY a religious issue, people only argue about why God and it being a sin!

[eurasianchica]

@lostluver23 Abortion doesn't have to be a religious issue. Regardless of whether God created the baby or not, the baby is a living, individual human being. This human being is not part of the mother- after all, that would mean that the mother has two heads, four arms, and in the case of a baby boy, a penis! The baby is an individual human being. Abortion kills this human being. That is murder.