The Candidates
If anyone was wondering how and why exactly Mitt Romney ended up endorsing his bitter rival, Sen. McCain, yesterday we now have the answer. John Weaver.
Weaver, as some of you may know, was McCain’s chief strategist and close friend during McCain’s run in 2000 all the way through last summer when he left the campaign during the meltdown. Well, it seems as if he was able to work his magic as a mediator between the McCain and Romney camps and secure an endorsement:
The decision by Mitt Romney to endorse John McCain didn’t just happen, of course. It took a Texan who knows something about uniting fierce political rivals.
John Weaver, Mr. McCain’s former political guru, was the intermediary who initiated talks between the two sides that led to Mr. Romney’s announcement of support.
It’s no secret the two men aren’t exactly friends. They had engaged in some fairly heated campaigning – the former Massachusetts governor accusing Mr. McCain of lacking conservative credentials and the Arizona senator calling his opponent a serial flip-flopper unworthy of the party’s trust.
Here’s how the two came to make a joint appearance Thursday in Boston: Last week, Mr. Weaver got a call from McCain aides Charlie Black and Steve Schmidt, who asked if he would help broker an endorsement.
Mr. Weaver, who had left the McCain campaign in last year’s shakeup, is a longtime friend of Beth Myers, Mr. Romney’s campaign manager. They both worked for Republican Bill Clements in the 1986 gubernatorial race and subsequently worked together at the state GOP in Austin.
“She and I had some conversations and traded a few e-mails,” Mr. Weaver said Thursday. “At the end of the day, this was a decision made by Governor Romney for the good of the general election campaign, for John, and for the party.”
Eight years ago, Mr. Weaver was in the middle of another political rapprochement – this one between Mr. McCain and George W. Bush following their bitter primary fight. After they patched up their political differences, Mr. Weaver and his archrival, Karl Rove, even patched up theirs.
Mark Sanders, a Texas political consultant and friend of Mr. Weaver, said his diplomatic skills could come in handy in the general election. “He knows how to bring Republican voters together,” he said.
February 15th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
Can’t wait to see the Bush hack McCain get clobbered by that clown Obama.
February 15th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
McCain, a Bush hack?! Do words no longer have any meaning?
February 15th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
give me a break - this is such a stupid inside baseball story. so now the screwball who first picked up the phone to order pizza gets all the credit? even though its well after dinner time and everyone at the party is starving?
i’ve been sending vibes out to the universe for mitt to endorse mccain for several days now. i know that some good has come of that, but you don’t see me claiming credit for the obvious.
lets see if mr. weaver can apply his political prowess and get huckabee to drop out and endorse mccain.
February 15th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
The Romney endorsement isn’t exactly a surprise. When Mitt gave his speech at CPAC, he pretty much said he was getting out for the good of the party and that he thought McCain would do what is best for our country at a time of war. This just made it official.
February 15th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
This should quell the Romney VP talk. Romney has beeter things to do than run on a losing ticket with McCain.
February 15th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
I thought the endorsement was a classy move. The fact that it was brokered I don’t think is anything shocking. How else would an endorsement happen other than having people from one campaign talking to people from the other?
February 15th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
It doesn’t sound like Romney asked for or received any assurances for the endorsement. I think this is just a way to ake Huckabee look bad, and it is working. Huckabee is still attacking Mitt, who is out of the race. Huckabee’s anti-Mormon bias is so transparent.
February 15th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
Greg,
If Huckabee looks bad, it is of his own doing. McCain and Romney have nothing to do with it.
And we have no assurances that McCain is a losing ticket. The Democrats are busy beating themselves up pretty good. Plus you have Iraq becoming such a success that even the MSM is taking notice.
February 15th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
If McCain isn’t a Bush hack as he and his supporters so vehemently claim, then why is Bush and his dad shilling for him?
February 15th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
Peter,
Erm? Perhaps because Bush’s 43 and 41 are the current and former Republican presidents. How would it look if they didn’t endorse McCain?
February 15th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Iraq becoming a success does not help the republicans. It just makes national security less of a concern, and it allows people to focus on healthcare and the economy.
February 15th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
#11
There is only one candidate that Iraq success could help and that would be McCain. He can always say that in uncertain times he came up or endorsed a plan that worked. No other candidate can be as forceful as McCain with this. This still has mileage in the General regardless of the outcome.
February 15th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
True…Hobie.
Also, it does well for GOP that Al Quada continues to put up on the web videos of their executions!
February 15th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
We have Obama on record for opposing the war almost from the get go. We also have Hillary on record for claiming the surge wasn’t working. This is not to mention Harry Reid stating we have lost the war.
Yes, success in the Iraq war is something that will hurt the Democrats. It may not be enough to win, but it still will hurt them.
February 15th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
My apologies for making an off-topic post, but I wanted to follow up on something that I (and perhaps only I) find interesting as a Super Tuesday follow-up.
Here in Illinois we have to vote both for a presidential candidate and separately for delegates pledged to that candidate. As I was doing so, I wondered how many people would not realize they had to do so, and thus potentially deprive their candidate of delegates.
I finally remembered to check this out and went to the Will County (where I live) election website. Based on some rough math, it appears that about 20% (!) of voters voted for a candidate, but not for delegates.
That’s a huge number, I think, certainly sufficient to tip close districts and, if this were going down to a delegate-hunt at the convention, enough to tip a nomination.
I hope that Illinois fixes this before the next election.
February 15th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
I don’t care if Iraq is so successful that everyone is wearing sparkly USA pins, it won’t matter, people still want the troops home. Stories of the mental problems, rising suicide rates and depression just make the message louder. Not only that but the economy is in the dump and people are looking at inept government and corporate greed as the cause. This is going to be the #1 issue in the election, not Iraq, not abortion and not gay rights. To quote, “It’s The Economy Stupid”.
February 15th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
McCain-Romney ticket is a winner for me! I wish the people of the republican party got to deside who the VP would be.
February 15th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
Romney essentially endorsed McCain when he dropped out. This was a re-affirmation.
February 15th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
LJ-
Another good find. Obviously, given the considerable animosity between Mitt and McCain, I was surprised that this happened as quickly as it did, and it made sense that there was this backstory connection between Weaver and Beth Myers that permitted the peace treaty to be signed.
Jon Martin at the Politico has a good note on this -
http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/0208/What_motivated_the_Romney_endorsement_yesterday.html
And I agree w/ Martin’s analysis…
February 15th, 2008 at 6:13 pm
#19 Did you hear Romney when he dropped out? He didn’t want to delay McCain’s general election campaign against the dems. That was an endorsement.
February 16th, 2008 at 1:09 am
I agree that this is a non-story. Do we give credit to the post man when a letter arrives now? Or credit to the telephone company that we got to talk to our mother on Mother’s Day?