Rudy Giuliani has put God-o-Meter in a tight spot. On one hand, this morning’s New York Times reports that the pro-choice, pro-gay rights ex-mayor has been reaching out to more than a dozen key evangelical figures, trying to allay fears about his liberal social issue stances. That would seem to nudge God-o-Meter’s needle up. On the other hand, Giuliani is telling them that he won’t change his views—even as he pledges to appoint conservative judges and to leave current abortion restrictions alone—and that they should respect him for at least being forthright with them. That would seem to jerk God-o-Meter’s needle down.

God-o-Meter has decided on the latter course because A) it has seen almost no evidence that Giuliani is aggressively courting Christian Right leaders (that lack of evidence was corroborated yesterday in The Hill) and B) his apparent overtures to conservative Christian figures don’t seem to be getting him anywhere. To wit: The Associated Press has St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke saying that he’d deny Giuliani the Eucharist because of his support for abortion rights. Focus on the Family’s James Dobson, for his part, is reaffirming his intention to back a third-party candidate should Giuliani win the nomination. The Giuliani strategy isn’t about reaching out to such figures–it’s about hoping that they matter a lot less than they used to.

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