And at the convention, many pro-lifers seemed convinced. While Forbes didn't get seven standing o's this time around, many attendees looking for a conservative alternative to Bush had tagged Forbes as their man.

Despite praise for Forbes, Coalition founder Pat Robertson seemed to give tacit support to Bush. "So far, George Bush [has] said things that have led me to believe he would be worthy of the support of the coalition were he the nominee of the party," Robertson said at a Friday press conference.

Forbes "would have a much better chance ... had he been a governor of a state, held some office," Robertson said.

Still, Robertson had nothing but kind words for Forbes -- even though the candidate once referred to Robertson as a "toothy flake" in a 1988 column in Forbes magazine. (He has since apologized.) Robertson's benign remarks led many to believe he sees Forbes as the only conservative alternative to Bush.

Robertson wasn't nearly as nice in his comments about presidential candidate and longtime Christian activist Gary Bauer, who held a press conference last week to deny little-reported rumors that he had an inappropriate relationship with an aide in her mid-20s. Before Bauer spoke at the Coalition convention on Friday, Robertson told reporters about the "three rules" of pastoral conduct: "One, never be alone in a room with a woman not your wife. No. 2, never be alone in a room with a woman not your wife, and No. 3, never be alone in a room with a woman not your wife."

With Robertson symbolically brushing Bauer aside as if he were a pesky mosquito, his flock was that much more receptive to Forbes, who was the convention's final speaker.

Forbes 2000 muckety-mucks dismiss questions about whether now-courted Christians ever ask about the "toothy flake" comment. "No one ever asks about that except for reporters," insists campaign manager Bill Dal Col. "That was in 1988, in the heat of a campaign where Steve was supporting Jack Kemp."

"I thought you were writing a story about 'current events,'" joked spokeswoman Lisa Kruska.

But even if Forbes' change of heart is real, it's still remarkable that he has embraced a movement that would have opposed equal rights for his flamboyant father as well as the gay and lesbian picnic-crashers like Quinn, McRuer and Court. Though I pushed campaign manager Dal Col about the contradiction, he brushed aside my question.

"Steve's father's been dead for 10 years," he noted.

And a lot of things can change in 10 years, apparently.

A Franciscan monk can become a gay social worker.

A fundamentalist Christian housewife can become a lesbian activist.

And Steve Forbes can find religion.

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