Christian conservative leaders, hoping to derail Mitt Romney as the GOP nominee, coalesced Saturday around Rick Santorum as a consensus choice to be the Republican standard bearer to take on Barack Obama in the fall. Tony Perkins, after a two-day meeting of some of the nation's most influential social conservatives at a ranch near Brenham, said participants agreed that Santorum is a reliable conservative who can beat the president. "There was this unanimous agreement to replace Barack Obama. And the consensus that emerged here was that Santorum was the best to do that," Perkins said.

The decision would boost the chances of Santorum, whose campaign lacks money and organization, by making available the resources of a well-organized social conservative community, particularly as he competes to be the anti-Romney candidate in the South Carolina primary. About 150 religious and conservative leaders attended the two-day session that settled on Santorum following passionate discussion and three ballots that winnowed the field. Surrogates for all the Republican challengers except Jon Huntsman made a pitch for their candidate, and the field was quickly reduced to a battle between Rick Perry, Newt Gingrich and Santorum. Perry failed to make the second ballot, and Santorum emerged as the consensus choice with 85 of 114 votes on the third ballot.

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