giuliani4.jpgABC News reports that Rudy Giuliani spoke to a Hispanic evangelical congregation this morning in Miami, apparently his first church visit of the race:

Saying that “faith can transform lives,” Giuliani told parishioners that running for president of the United States “is a marathon, not a sprint. And in may ways it’s a test of strength and a test of faith. The Bible reminds us, Joshua 10:25, ‘Fear not, be strong, and of good courage.’ That is the way to face the future.”

(Giuliani, who is facing off against five major Republican challengers, did not quote from the next verse in Joshua, which describes Joshua smiting five kings, slaying them, and hanging them on five trees until the evening.)
“So I am not coming here to ask for your vote,” Giuliani said. “This is not the right place. I am coming here to ask you of something, very special, very important: I am asking for your prayers.”
Three months ago, Giuliani might have thought that the greatest threats to his candidacy were former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and former Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., none of whom have been embraced en masse by conservative Christian voters.
But then came the Huckaboom. According to an Associated Press poll from the end of December, 54% of conservative evangelicals who attend church weekly switched their preference of candidate in November and 61 percent of the switchers moved to former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a fellow evangelical and Baptist minister.

God-o-Meter is declining to raise Giuliani’s reading only because it realizes he shouldn’t have been as high as seven for so long.


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