But the Democratic gubernatorial candidate says he’s not going to make a big deal out of it.

Porter, the House minority leader from Dublin, is a hard man to pin down on abortion. That’s not surprising, given that he’s stuck between a conservative, religious rural constituency and statewide ambitions that involve appealing to a more liberal, female, urban audience as well.

Talking to Porter about biotech research this afternoon, I prefaced a question about embryonic stem cells by asking him whether he was pro-life or pro-choice.

“I don’t know if that’s where government needs to be,” he dodged.

I pressed a little bit, and he said he believes abortion ought to be legal in cases of rape, incest or to save the mother’s life. So, otherwise, you’re pro-life, then, right? Right, he said, but with the caveat that state governments don’t have much control over the issue.

“I really think this is something that ought to be handled in the courts later,” he said.

Then, reiterating that abortion isn’t a priority for him, he skillfully steered the conversation back to what he really wanted to talk about.

“I think when people are better-educated, there are fewer abortions,” he said. “I’m going to put the emphasis of my administration on education.”

I looked some of Porter’s past stances on abortion, and from what I can tell, he’s never been crystal clear about it. For example, on a 2005 Bobby Franklin bill that would have made abortion a felony, Porter said, "The problem is, it's misleading to voters to pretend we can ban abortion here. Whether we personally agree or not, the Supreme Court has said it's legal. And I think when you get into cases like rape or incest there's a lot of people who think it should be up to the woman on that."

That's a lot of wiggle room he left himself there.

I talked to a few plugged-in folks about this, and reaction varied wildly. One operative in a rival campaign said he thought Porter’s been pretty consistent on abortion over the years, another said he’s been dodging it for years, and a long-time Porter supporter said he was absolutely floored. So I don’t really know what to make of it, but there you go.

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