Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani yesterday told an audience of more than 2,000 evangelicals that "you have absolutely nothing to fear from me" and urged them to look beyond the differences he has with them, including his support for abortion rights. "People of good conscience reach different conclusions about whether abortions should be legal in certain circumstances," Giuliani told the Values Voters Summit. In defending his position, he took a thinly veiled shot at rival Mitt Romney, who once supported abortion rights but is running for president on a strict antiabortion platform. "Isn't it better for me to tell you what I really believe, instead of pretending to change all of my positions to fit the prevailing winds?" Giuliani said. "I believe trust is more important than 100 percent agreement."
While Giuliani did not name Romney, his statement follows an increasingly bitter feud between the two campaigns, with Giuliani's spokeswoman issuing a statement on Friday night that detailed Romney's former support for abortion rights and accusing the former Massachusetts governor of being a "candidate of convenience."