Sen. Brownback touts 'pro-life, whole life' message for '08

The Republican presidential candidate from Kansas called the recent Supreme Court decision on so-called partial birth abortions an encouraging sign.

from the April 26, 2007 edition

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Other signature issues for the senator include immigration, energy, and Iraq. On the last, he is teaming up with Democratic senator and presidential candidate Joseph Biden to promote a three-state, one-country political solution for Iraq. On energy, the farm-state senator favors more use of alternative fuels and electricity in cars. On immigration, he voted for the border fence and supports offering illegal immigrants a path to citizenship, with preconditions.

But it may be his "whole life" message that most sets him apart and at times puts him at odds with the mainstream of his party. A convert to Catholicism in 2002, he now largely opposes the death penalty – "except in cases where we cannot protect society from the perpetrator," such as Osama bin Laden.

But Brownback says he will not promote the curtailing of the death penalty as a campaign issue.

"I think it is tough for a state to teach a culture of life and still use this tool of death, and that's where I have difficulty with it. But I'm not going to be pushing it on an aggressive basis," he says. "I will be pushing issues like what we can do on reducing prison recidivism rates, which I've worked on a lot. I am going to be pushing what we can to do to help those in poverty in this country and poverty around the world, particularly what we can do to reduce malaria, what we can do to get more clean water supplies to people in third-world countries."

Some Republican voters have expressed dissatisfaction with the best-known and best-funded GOP presidential candidates – but that has not translated into greater support for non-front-runners like Brownback. He says it's too early in the cycle to judge public reaction to the field.

"A lot of people haven't focused on it," he says. "It's April of the year before. So this will take time, but it will happen over a period of time."

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