The National Right to Life Committee today endorsed Sen. Fred Thompson, Republican presidential hopeful, actor, and former senator from Tennessee, for the presidency.

The Committee's endorsement of Thompson is "another sign that the support of social conservatives is unusually diffuse," noted Linda Wertheimer on NPR this morning.

In a press release, the National Right to Life Committee claims that Thompson has been running second only to "pro-abortion candidate Rudy Giuliani" in most national polls, and the Committee has clearly backed a candidate they think could win the nomination. But when looking at the early battlegrounds of Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, Thompson's second-place finish is far from assured, writes Chris Cillizza at the Fix, the Washington Post's politics blog. Two polls from the weekend place Thompson finishing sixth. The last three polls in Iowa place Thompson fourth, fifth and fourth place. Giuliani, meanwhile, secured social conservative and televangelist Pat Robertson's endorsement last week.

Thompson opposes not only abortion but also stem cell research.