Giuliani Works to Win Over Religious and Social Conservatives

"You and I know that I am not a perfect person," he said. "I've made mistakes in my life. But I've always done the best that I could to try to learn from them. I pray for forgiveness. I pray for strength. I pray for guidance. I feel my faith deeply, although maybe more privately than some, because of the way I was brought up, maybe for other reasons."

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Gary Bauer, one of the leaders among social conservatives, said Giuliani missed an opportunity with the audience by failing to make a strong statement in opposition to same-sex marriage, but added overall that he may have helped his cause.

"Events like this, speeches like this, help to establish a little bit of trust and a relationship that can be built on later," he said. "I think with some people they were reminded that there were some things that indeed they would agree with him on."

Huckabee proved to be the crowd favorite at the weekend gathering, winning slightly more than half of the 952 votes cast in an unscientific straw poll of conference attendees.

Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney narrowly edged Huckabee in a larger straw poll that included participants who voted online or by mail, as well as at the conference. Romney captured 1,595 votes to Huckabee's 1,565 among the 5,775 total cast. Together, they amassed 55 percent of all votes cast.

Giuliani finished well down the list, behind seven other candidates and "undecided" in the larger pool of participants and a distant fifth among those who attended the conference. Sen. John McCain of Arizona fared even worse. Former Tennessee senator Fred Thompson was third among conference participants and fourth in the online balloting, but in neither case did he show particular strength.

Rep. Ron Paul (Tex.) continued to demonstrate his online appeal. He finished third overall in the online balloting but, among conference participants, attracted only 25 votes, good for ninth place.