Rasmussen Reports reports:

If Rudy Giuliani wins the Republican nomination and a third party campaign is backed by Christian conservative leaders, 27% of Republican voters say they’d vote for the third party option rather than Giuliani. A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that a three-way race with Hillary Clinton would end up with the former First Lady getting 46% of the vote, Giuliani with 30% and the third-party option picking up 14%.

A three-way race is a very real possibility. Religious right leaders just can't seem to settle on a GOP candidate, with those out in front having some liberal tendencies in their past (towards abortion or gays) and yet the most suitable candidates (read: intolerant) being too far out of the running. And make no mistake, Sam Brownback should be their man but he's so far out of the running that the religious right powers-that-be ignore him. They want to endorse a winner, not just someone who lines up with their views -- c'mon, this is really about politics and power, not religion or God.

I'm sure they've observed a dramatic decline in their numbers and therefore in their funding, with incoming $$ nosediving along with Bush's poll numbers. To that end, they can't support the likes of a Rudy or Romney and likely calculate that by siding with a third-party candidate, yes it's not likely such a person would win the election, but it would do wonders to excite their base and rejuvenate the monetary pipeline. (Exactly who they have in mind to play the role of this third-party candidate is beyond me).

Hilarious to hear about Sean Hannity feverishly trying to convince the religious right to just play ball. But even more humorous is to realize that Perot helped Clinton and Nader helped Bush -- who would've guessed the likes of Dobson may end up helping Hillary?