2012 Republican Front-Runners All Christian Conservatives

By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a possible 2012 Republican presidential contender, quietly addressed a gathering of evangelical leaders in Minneapolis today. Pawlenty, an evangelical, tried to get the McCain campaign to focus more on born-again Christians last year but to little avail.

Pawlenty's appearance today is a reminder that, for all the talk of the Christian right's flagging influence, the current field of Republican front-runners for 2012 presidential race is composed entirely of social conservatives.

Besides Pawlenty, the field includes:

• Sarah Palin, a nondenominational Christian and former Pentecostal who is opening up about her faith.
• Newt Gingrich, a recently converted Catholic who's stepping up efforts to organize religious conservatives.
• Bobby Jindal, a Catholic conservative and darling of the Christian right.
• Mark Sanford, an Episcopalian whom conservative Christian activists tried to draft into the presidential race last year.
• Mitt Romney, a Mormon who tried hard to win over skeptical evangelical leaders in his 2008 White House bid and whose church played an active role in passing Proposition 8 in California last year.
• Mike Huckabee, an ordained Baptist minister.
• A few other names floated as 2012 contenders are more socially moderate or have rockier relationships with the GOP's socially conservative base, but these folks are—at this early stage—second-tier contenders:
• Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who has upset Christian conservatives by supporting gay civil unions.
• Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, who has long riled social conservatives in his state.
• Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, who had rough relations with conservative Christian leaders as head of the Republican National Committee in the 1990s.

• Follow Dan Gilgoff on Twitter.
• Read more about Republicans.