If it is Fred Thompson who gets the nod, it’s unclear to me what ruled out Mitt Romney. It can’t be that the folks at NRLC frown on his pro-choice past because their ranks have many converts to their cause — including Bernard Nathanson. The sincerity of his pro-life views has been recognized by Dr. Jack Wilkie and Jim Bopp, among many other veteran pro-life champions. At a minimum, he is now operationally pro-life. If it is true that NRLC acknowledges his salesman’s gifts, don’t they recognize that they are now being deployed to make the pro-life case? It appears that a “viability” calculation prevented an endorsement of Mike Huckabee. But Romney has Huckabee and Thompson beat on “viability” for the nomination.

Romney would come out on top in a “most viable, most pro-life” test, if the McCain-Feingold-Thompson campaign-finance reform that NRTL so strenously opposed was part of the calculation. It will be interesting to hear the explanation. . .