. . . That’s the choice conservative evangelical voters face in a Republican primary season that has already narrowed to two frontrunners: Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney. In his column this week, Joel Belz dissects the dilemma: Some of his friends, loyal WORLD subscribers among them, say that yes, Giuliani is wobbly on issues like life for the unborn and marriage . . .

But they think that overall he’s the tough-minded man the presidency requires-and they think he’s a straight-shooter whose word can be trusted even if you don’t like some of what he says. Such trust, they say, is especially critical with reference to Giuliani’s promise that he would appoint Supreme Court justices in the mold of Roberts and Alito.

I haven’t been persuaded.

But a whole lot more of my friends and acquaintances have surprised me by swearing their early allegiance to Romney. Yes, they concede, they wish his eager pro-life and pro-traditional-marriage commitments had been part of his record for 15 years instead of just 15 months. But they like it (shouldn’t we all rejoice?) when a person admits he’s been wrong, and then embraces what’s right . . .

On this front, Joel writes — maybe more than on the first — he hasn’t been persuaded.