WASHINGTON — Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), a favorite of social conservatives, announced Monday that he was taking the first step toward a 2008 White House run by setting up an exploratory committee.
"I have decided, after much prayerful consideration, to consider a bid for the Republican nomination for the presidency," he said in a statement. "There is a real need in our country to rebuild the family and renew our culture, and there is a need for genuine conservatism and real compassion in the national discussion."
The formation of such a committee allows Brownback to begin raising money and testing support for a presidential race without making a formal commitment to seek the nomination. Sen. John McCain of Arizona and former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani already have formed committees, but neither GOP hopeful has wide appeal among conservatives.
In recent weeks, several conservative Republicans have fallen from contention: Outgoing Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee took himself out of the running, and the unsuccessful reelection bids of Sens. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and George Allen of Virginia dashed their presidential hopes.
Brownback, who could corral some of their support, said he would visit 10 states in the next month, starting today in Iowa.
"Obviously there's a vacancy on the right, and he may well fit the niche," said Stuart Rothenberg of the nonpartisan Rothenberg Political Report. "He's a longshot -- but you don't have any shot if you don't throw your hat in the ring."
Raised as a Methodist, Brownback became a Roman Catholic in 2002. He has worked with Democrats on bills to stop human trafficking, end starvation in Uganda and genocide in Sudan, extend a path to citizenship to illegal immigrants, curb prison recidivism and ease the AIDS epidemic in Africa.
He has also pushed for a Smithsonian museum on African American history and for a federal apology to Native Americans, to "help us move toward reconciliation" with two groups that "didn't feel like America had been fair to them."
And, outraged by singer Janet Jackson's 2004 Super Bowl halftime "wardrobe malfunction," he was instrumental in requiring the Federal Communications Commission to increase the fines for indecency on the airwaves.
An opponent of abortion, same-sex marriage and embryonic stem-cell research, Brownback often leads meetings of the Values Action Team, where advocacy groups meet to track social conservative legislation.
