PELLA, IOWA — A highway sign outside this small town calls it "a touch of Holland." A few windmills later, Bruxvoort's furniture store and Vander Ploeg's bakery attest to Pella's tight bonds with the Netherlands.
But if Pella, abuzz in tulip festival preparations, stands out with its colorful display of Dutch heritage, its politics are typical of many towns in rural Iowa: Conservative Christian Republicans hold sway.
So it comes as little surprise that appliance repairman Bernie Veenstra, 48, and many other evangelical Christians here cast a wary eye on Republican presidential hopeful Rudolph W. Giuliani, the combative former New York City mayor with liberal views on abortion and gay rights.
"He's got that New York mentality -- that's why I don't like him," Veenstra said. "Around here, it's family, pro-life."
But in conversations with Republicans here in the first state to vote in the 2008 presidential race, the more striking thing is how evangelicals Carolyn Vande Voort, Joy Milby and Mike Brown see Giuliani: They disagree with him on social issues, but lean toward him anyway.
And therein lies a startling aspect of Giuliani's candidacy: Nationwide, he is the No. 1 choice of white conservative Christians for the Republican nomination. A Times poll this month found 26% of them favor Giuliani -- more than double the portion supporting either of his top rivals, John McCain or Mitt Romney.
Giuliani's improbable appeal to these culturally conservative voters suggests that they may pose less of a threat to his quest for the nomination than widely assumed. His lead among those voters is partly circumstance; no other Republican has consolidated their support.
But it also demonstrates the potency of his tough-on-terrorism message among conservatives who prize strong leadership on national security.
"You want someone who's demonstrated character," said Mike Brown, a Pella city employee walking past tulip beds in the town square, on his way to lunch at In'tveld's diner.
Brown, 56, thinks Giuliani is wrong on abortion, but he wants a president who will cope with crisis the way the mayor responded to the terrorist strikes of Sept. 11, 2001. "Just being able to remain calm, dispatch the people, handle the situation -- those are things I really find favorable," Brown said.
Some evangelicals are also willing to ignore Giuliani's liberal social views because they sense that he gives Republicans their best shot at holding the White House in an otherwise dismal election climate for the party.
