About a year ago, I was working on a Washington Monthly piece about the historical oddity of admitted adulterers running for president as Republicans. I ended up speaking with about a half-dozen prominent conservative leaders affiliated with the religious right movement -- include representatives of Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council -- most of whom told me that Rudy Giuliani, if he won the GOP nomination, would cause an unprecedented rift in the party.

With the former NYC mayor still leading in national polls, some of these same conservative groups have reportedly started making preparations to support a third-party campaign. Salon's Michael Scherer has the story.

A powerful group of conservative Christian leaders decided Saturday at a private meeting in Salt Lake City to consider supporting a third-party candidate for president if a pro-choice nominee like Rudy Giuliani wins the Republican nomination. [...]

"The conclusion was that if there is a pro-abortion nominee they will consider working with a third party," said the person, who spoke to Salon on the condition of anonymity. The private meeting was not a part of the official CNP schedule, which is itself a closely held secret. "Dobson came in just for this meeting," the person said.

If this doesn't cause the Republican Party some anxiety, it's just not paying attention. Indeed, this scenario made Karl Rove exceedinly nervous in 2004, when there were rumors that former Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore might make a suitable far-right candidate, who would pick up support from Dobson & Co., split the right, and throw the election to the Democrats.

And that was with Bush, who is pretty conservative. A Giuliani candidacy is obviously far more problematic, given his scandalous personal history and his previous support for abortion rights, gay rights, gun control, and stem-cell research.

Let's also not forget that there's already a vehicle in place for a further-right campaign -- the ridiculously right-wing Constitution Party has a spot on the presidential ballot in 41 states, and a party leader was on hand for the Utah meeting yesterday.

Stay tuned.