The Candidates
The Hill put out a great article tonight on the impact of Senator Brownback’s endorsement of McCain. As I noted a couple days ago, Brownback has especially been key in courting the Catholic vote.
The Hill
Brownback courting right for Sen. McCain
By Alexander Bolton
02/06/08 07:48 PMAfter quietly bowing out of the presidential race last fall, Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) launched an aggressive effort to court socially conservative leaders who have expressed skepticism about the candidacy of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).
Brownback is heading McCain’s outreach to Catholic voters and is also one of McCain’s chief advisers on judicial nominations, helping to organize meetings between the candidate and national social conservative leaders. Brownback has met with Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, and Father Frank Pavone, a leader in the anti-abortion rights movement, to enlist their support.
Brownback will be at CPAC to help McCain. Last year, Brownback got third place in the straw poll overall, and first place among those who identified themselves as “value voters.”
On Thursday, Brownback will attend Conservative Political Action Conference, an annual convention of conservative activists in Washington, to tout McCain. He will then travel home to persuade voters to support McCain in the Kansas caucus scheduled for Saturday.
On Huckabee and Romney:
Brownback said he first considered endorsing Huckabee.
“My heart was more with Huckabee because the social issues are clearly a strong agenda item with him,” said Brownback in an interview. “But he didn’t have the rest of the package and I didn’t think he could build out to include economic conservatives.
“He’s got a 24-year pro-life voting record,” said Brownback of his colleague. “[ Former Massachusetts Gov.] Romney was pro-choice.
Why McCain?
“McCain is a hard-rock fiscal conservative - no one is close to him on fiscal conservatism,” he said.
The Kansas senator acknowledges that McCain has a “mixed” record on “economic growth issues,” an allusion to McCain’s opposition to President Bush’s 2001 and 2003 tax cut proposals, but says that McCain’s rebellion on those tax cuts stemmed from his strong sense of fiscal responsibility.
Ultimately, Brownback argues, social conservatives should vote for McCain because he is electable and they can rely on him to appoint conservative justices to the Supreme Court.
“The most important reason to win the presidency is so we don’t lose ground on the Supreme Court,” said Brownback, who fears a November victory by Clinton or Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) would shift the court’s ideological balance to the left.
Brownback bringing in Catholic votes for McCain, especially by sending his team down to Florida (it was a blast):
Brownback’s greatest political contribution to McCain may be his influence among Catholic voters, an important swing constituency that is expected to figure prominently in both parties’ general election strategies.
Brownback sent nine volunteers to Florida before the Jan. 29 primary to reach out to Catholic voters on McCain’s behalf.
Those operatives in turn built up a 200-member volunteer network and helped McCain reverse his disappointing performance among Catholics in Michigan.
In Michigan, Romney beat McCain by five points among Catholics who regularly attend church, according to exit polls.
In Florida, McCain beat Romney 37 percent to 31 in this demographic.
This week, Brownback authored an op-ed in the National Catholic Register defending McCain’s record on abortion. In an essay titled “Pro-Lifers Can Trust McCain,” Brownback responded to a columnist’s criticism of McCain.
“John McCain is not pro-life out of convenience, but based on principle,” he wrote.
Brownback’s support has also helped reassure conservatives wary of McCain’s support for stem-cell research.
Brownback believes such research will die down as a political issue because technical advances have enabled researchers to work on stem cells without destroying embryos.
VP?
Brownback’s partnership with McCain has prompted some political observers to wonder whether Brownback may be hoping to be named to the Republican ticket this summer.
“If it comes up, I will certainly look at it,” he said. “But people speculate about that much earlier than anyone [on the campaign] is thinking about it. I think that speculation is way too early.”
February 7th, 2008 at 2:01 am
Guys! This ship is going down! We need to elect someone who will STOP this spending, STOP this growing federal government, STOP this borrowing, STOP this inflating of the money supply, STOP this policing of other countries’ affairs! McCain will not do this! Romney will not do this! Huckabee will not do this!
WE CAN’T AFFORD THIS ANY MORE! IT NEEDS TO STOP!
The Republic is coming to an end if we don’t STOP!
Is anyone listening?
February 7th, 2008 at 6:29 am
This is laughable. This shows the complete idiocy of John McCain. He is totally mis-reading the Right.
It’s not Social Conservatives that have a problem with John McCain. He’s proven Pro-Life.
It’s libertarian Republicans. And it’s limited government Conservatives who can’t stand the man.
I’m talking Club for Growth. It’s the Tax Reform movement. It’s the Sam Adams Alliance and Americans for Limited Government folks. It’s the Reason Magazine crowd. It’s the Cato Institute think tankers. It’s the Ron Paul Revolution fanatics. It’s the Republican Liberty Caucus. And it most certainly is the Libertarian Party members.
Those are the ones who will not support McCain. They make up a significant portion of the GOP electorate. But some estimates - Pew Research - close to 20 some percent.
And here McCain is “reaching out to Social Conservatives.”
Hey, Mr. McCain. They’re not your problem. They’ll support you cause of your Pro-Life position. It’s us libertarians who are going to walk out on your Presidential campaign.
Always remember, the Libertarian Party has at least 45 state ballot status each Presidential election cycle, and sometimes 48 to 50.
If the LP smartens up this year, and nominates Wayne Root, or Bob Barr or Gary Johnson, they’ll take 3, maybe 4 to 5% of the vote out of your column.
February 7th, 2008 at 8:12 am
Pandering to economic conservatives would cause McCain to lose moderate voters in greater numbers than the 2-3% he would stand to gain. Partly this is because economic conservatives would require so many flip flops from McCain.
He’ll likely reach out to social conservatives because they’re larger than economic conservatives and they’re easier to please.
February 7th, 2008 at 8:20 am
“He’ll likely reach out to social conservatives because they’re larger than economic conservatives and they’re easier to please”
Ha! I bet Mitt Romney would disagree strongly.
February 7th, 2008 at 8:20 am
Eric, I don’t think he has proven himself to be prolife. I’ve seen video on here of him saying he would not support the overturn of Roe vs Wade. He would not support and amendment to preserve live nor one to define marriage as between a man and a woman. He falls short in this area also.
February 7th, 2008 at 8:37 am
Brownback as VP…… Seriously?? As if one old, campy guy wasn’t enough, we have to add an old, boring guy to even out the ticket?? Brownback would be THE WORST possible choice for VP.
February 7th, 2008 at 8:40 am
I don’t know why leaders buy into this type of stuff. he is obviously doing this out of self interest not any sincere care for the pro life movement. he would have picked huckabee if that were the case. its is all bs.
February 7th, 2008 at 8:41 am
Yeah - it’s not going to be Brownback.
February 7th, 2008 at 8:43 am
come on guys - for the sake of the future of the GOP, we need to unite and make sure that the party tent is big enough for all the career politicians in DC.
McCain’s camp is busy filling all of the useful idiot job postings.
February 7th, 2008 at 8:46 am
No room for Rombots, then, as these have shown themselves to be even less useful than their hapless candidate.
February 7th, 2008 at 9:01 am
MarkG - why the slam at Romney supporters?
“McCain’s camp is busy filling all of the useful idiot job postings.” You don’t see Giuliani, Brownback, Crist, and the like bunkering down around McCain as an appropriate use of the term ‘useful idiots’?
February 7th, 2008 at 9:04 am
The title should be “Brownback courting right for himself”
February 7th, 2008 at 9:16 am
Nice of McCain to show true leadership and miss the the vote on economic stimulus in the senate. I guess it wasnt politically expedient to vote either way…just another political hack…I think that if a current sitting politician decides to run for president, they should have to resign from their seat…he has not “represented” the people of Arizona for about a year and a half now…
February 7th, 2008 at 9:21 am
I think McCain is misreading his opposition.
The reason I dislike McCain so strongly is immigration - not social issues. He could be much stronger on social issues, but I do think he will be at least moderately pro-life.
If John McCain wants my vote, he needs to promise not to push for Amnesty.
February 7th, 2008 at 9:23 am
When you look at the states that are left to vote it appears Huckabee and Romney could still win a few states.
Huckabee
-Texas
-North Carolina
-Mississippi
-Kentucky
Romney
-Washington
-Indiana
-Idaho
-Nebraska
February 7th, 2008 at 9:25 am
grover71 - I agree with most of what you post, except that McCain has not represented the people of Arizona for much longer than 1 1/2 years.
So McCain doesn’t want to be on record with the stimulous bill - once it became clear that the GOP was going to stand up to the DEMs on the bill, McCain knew that he would be unable to side with ‘his friends’ and go on record in favor of the DEM add-ons, so what’s a solid conservative to do in that situation? Hmm.. claim that he hasn’t had an opportunity to review the bill and doesn’t feel comfortable weighing in on the issue.
Once again, McCain’s actions of siding with the DEMs, or in this specific case of looking the other way, while the GOP is charging the fight continues to be a huge challenge for the Sen from AZ.
February 7th, 2008 at 9:41 am
Republicans are so stupid. This guy won’t give his endorsement to Huckabee because he didn’t have the whole package, but then dismisses Romney one issue where he USED to be pro-choice, no longer is, has never governed that way, and is demonstrably brilliant in every other way.
GEE WHIZ! GOD will hate me if I vote for a MOR-MAN!!!
February 7th, 2008 at 9:42 am
#15 - The key is keeping Huckabee’s delegates low enough to where when added to McCain’s, McCain still doesn’t have enough to win. McCain just released a memo listing out all the wonderful things Huckabee has done and what he stands for. He’s trying to get Huckabee to fold now, and no, McCain will never choose Huckabee as his VP, unless he is forced to.
February 7th, 2008 at 9:48 am
Eric in #2 above is somewhat correct to say that McCain’s problems don’t lie with his lack of support among socons. McCain’s socon values were never really in question - he never lost the trust of the socon wing of the GOP, and he’ll receive their vote regardless of who his VP is. It’s the ficons and libertarian conservatives he’s losing, those of us adamantly against McCain-Feingold, McCain-Kennedy, etc. For a good analysis of this theme (about Huck as VP, but still relevant), check out this article:
http://time-blog.com/real_clear_politics/2008/02/huckabee_as_veep.html
February 7th, 2008 at 9:52 am
Damn, this site remarkably boring now that we have a presumptive (98%) nominee.
You are all so right about McCain mis-judging where his detractors come from.
And it is UNACCEPTABLE and REPREHENSIBLE that this war hero doesn’t have the balls to vote on the Stimulus bill - General campaign fodder. Is his mother the one running this campaign. He is making no sense in his strategic moves.
February 7th, 2008 at 10:12 am
Lets get over Huck and Brownback. They are great guys but do you really want them sitting behind the desk in the Oval Office if something happens to McCain? Here’s a thought, lets pick the best man for the job of VP not the most politically helpful.
If I was John, Rudy would be at the top of my short list. He is the strongest leader with the most proven track record. He could care less what you or I think which is why he gets things done. The terrorist hate him because they know he would aggressively come after them. And God forbid anything happen to McCain, Rudy’s middle name is crisis management.
McCain/Giuliani 08
February 7th, 2008 at 10:21 am
What would be God’s take on someone voting for a MOR-WOMAN?
February 7th, 2008 at 10:55 am
ya think Reagan would have skipped this vote? is there really alot more substance to John McCain than there is to Barack Obama…do either of them really “say” anything?
September 9th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
[...] about how Sam Brownback has been leading the “Catholics for McCain” effort here and here and here and here and here. I wrote so much about it I figured I’d give everyone an update on [...]