How Pro-Life is Pro-Life Enough?

The pro-life Susan B. Anthony List's decision to endorse Carly Fiorina over Chuck Devore in the California GOP Senate primary reflects the tough compromises committed pro-life voters must often make at election time.

So, the pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List has just endorsed Carly Fiorina in the California GOP Senate primary.

Well shoot.

Obviously, they were not going to endorse the pro-choice Tom Campbell, but they could have endorsed DeVore. Note well:

The SBA List Candidate Fund endorses pro-life female candidates, as well as pro-life male candidates who run against female candidates in favor of abortion rights.

But, they didn't.  Most likely because Chuck Devore has not been able to get above 14 percent in the polls, in the most favorable environment for outsider Republican candidates since... when? 1894?  That's not a good sign.

But still.  If I were still a Californian, I would have voted for DeVore, for the sake of expediency.  I don't vote pro-choice when there's a pro-life alternative.  But, when there are two pro-life candidates, do I have to pick the (nominally) pro-life candidate that also has the very best chance to defeat the pro-choice candidate? Really?

I know plenty of pro-lifers that did not vote for McCain in 2008.  Some of them are pretty much not pulling the R lever until the Republicans agree to throw Dick Cheney in prison.  Not only that, they think me less than truly pro-life for not grabbing a hold as they climb the cliffs of insanity.  So, why should I hold myself to a higher standard of efficiency than they? Especially if 1)  Fiorina ends up losing in a squeaker, 2) her newfound embrace of the pro-life cause inevitably gets the blame, and 3) I won't be able to say, "Well, I didn't support her in the primary..."?

So I had my perfectly respectable dodge, and then the SBA List messes it up for me.  Alas, I am susceptible to what Sir Henry Maine called "Party Feeling," and it looks like the SBA List is sending their signal to California's cultural conservatives: quit being splitters, and suit up for battle.

Well, Fiorina as the choice of a new type of cultural conservative would be... different.  Probably frustrating at times, but perhaps refreshing as well.  So, I'm torn, and I wish California's cultural conservatives well, in their difficult and fascinating choice.