By Craig Crawford, CQ Columnist

There is nothing like defeat as a catalyst for change in the life of political parties. Stung by the loss of Congress and dealing with a president in a tailspin, the Republican Party is now engaged in a bruising battle to loosen its longstanding ties to social conservatism and reshape its image for mainstream voters.

The party’s 10 White House hopefuls are at the forefront of this intraparty struggle, which is intensifying with each of their nationally televised debates. Their most recent, in South Carolina last week, erupted into fits of name-calling and flashes of anger as the leading candidates- conservative credentials were questioned by those who consider themselves the truer conservatives.

To see the possibility of a dramatically changed GOP, look no further than the men who, by dint of opinion polls and their own organizational and fundraising strength, are in the current 2008 presidential field’s top tier: Sen. John McCain of Arizona, former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani of New York and former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts. It is odd for a party so bound to its traditions that its leading candidates are the ones challenging the party’s past - although in different ways and to varying degrees.

Whether by virtue of their record on hot-button social issues (abortion, guns and gays) or on the strength of their current stands, the Big Three - even when seeking to distance themselves from their moderate-to-liberal pasts - are very much at odds with the others, all of whom are eager to deride their rivals as faux conservatives.

Watching Rudy McRomney (as one of the others, former Gov. Jim Gilmore of Virginia, dubbed the group) field those attacks has become great sport. What remains remarkable is the sight of moderates at the top of the heap instead of on the sidelines, where their kind has sat in Republican primaries for the past three decades.

Even more amazing is that the presumed front-runner, Giuliani, is the one who most clearly represents a fundamental shift away from social conservatism. He tries not to emphasize that he’s out of sync with so many primary voters, but he’s also not trying to pretend to be something else. Instead, he tries to change the subject. At last week’s debate, he managed a clever dodge to a direct question about his social values. Asked if his “pro-choice, pro-gay rights, pro-gun control” views are the “stands of a conservative,” Giuliani offered no pretense of answering the social-values question - and instead went after one of the Democratic front-runners, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. His fellow New Yorker opposes a free-market economy, Giuliani declared, and believes government has a right “to take money from you in order to give it to the common good.”

By presenting himself at that moment as an economic conservative who can take it to the liberals, Giuliani was essentially asking GOP primary voters to make that more important than his social stands. And he is pressing the argument that his ideological mixture is more marketable in a general election. While McCain and Romney are more equivocal, they also represent a new direction for Republicans. McCain still suffers fallout for chastising evangelical Christian leaders during his failed 2000 campaign. Romney is trying to run away from his liberal record on social issues as a governor and former Senate candidate in his “deep blue” home state, but consequently he’s getting tagged as a flip-flopper.

Contributing Editor Craig Crawford is a news analyst for NBC, MSNBC and CNBC. His column on the White House appears in CQ Weekly

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