Evangelicals Gather at Summit

He officially withdrew after reporting recently that his campaign had $94,000 in cash. "We're out of money," he told reporters.

Brownback was elected to the Senate in 1996 when Robert J. Dole resigned the seat to run for president. He won two full terms in 1998 and 2004. Political observers in Kansas expect that he will seek the governor's office in 2010.

His departure from the race was a disappointment to many here who said they voted for him in the straw poll. Brownback had spent much of his campaign talking about Christian values and stressing his stance against abortion.

"Personally, I always thought that Sam Brownback held the closest, totally consistent views," said John Jakubczyk, a lawyer and past president of Arizona Right to Life.

He said the expectations game destroyed Brownback's candidacy. "Everyone says, 'Oh, we love Sam, but he can't win.' And that became a self-fulfilling prophecy," Jakubczyk said.

Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council, which organized this weekend's summit, predicted that religious leaders and activists would leave here having narrowed their choices to three. But that seemed unlikely, judging from the responses to the presidential hopefuls who made their case yesterday.

"Everyone has a flaw. I guess it's going to be what's considered the least liability," said Victoria Cobb, who runs the Family Foundation in Virginia.

While there was skepticism about Romney and Giuliani, two other Republican candidates -- Huckabee and former senator Fred D. Thompson (Tenn.) -- received more enthusiastic receptions.

"I like the way [Huckabee] expresses himself. He has the same conservative values I do," said Joyce Griffin, who came from what she described as "serious country," 30 miles outside of Savannah, Ga.

Thompson got polite applause for his pledges to oppose abortion and same-sex marriage, then promised that in his first hour as president, he would "go into the Oval Office, close the door and pray for the wisdom to do the right thing."

The crowd leapt to its feet, applauding and yelling its approval to a smiling Thompson.

Jakubczyk was more optimistic than some at the gathering. "A meeting like this helps to energize and remind us that we've got to get back on track," he said. "Unfortunately, the last couple of years, after 2006, there were a lot of people who got depressed, got despondent, got upset, got worried."

"Let's not be depressed," he concluded. "Let's just get to work."