Posted on 11/28/2005 10:15:28 AM PST by areafiftyone
Senator McCain of Arizona is emerging as an early favorite for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 as a result of a shift in the issues dominating the American political landscape, according to political analysts.
Intensifying public concern about the war in Iraq, the prospect of protracted corruption trials in Washington, and renewed qualms among Republicans about federal spending are all putting wind into Mr. McCain's sails while setting back most of the senator's rivals for the nomination.
"If Iraq and foreign policy and national security and deficit spending are important issues, that will benefit people like McCain," the publisher of a leading political newsletter, Stuart Rothenberg, said.
A Republican political consultant with national campaign experience said looming decisions about when and how to withdraw American troops from Iraq should boost the prospects of Mr. McCain, a former Navy pilot who spent more than five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. The senator has vocally opposed calls for an immediate withdrawal from Iraq, but he has also clashed with the White House over a measure he sponsored to prohibit Americans from engaging in torture.
A former aide to the senator, Marshall Wittmann, also said he believes the stars are aligning for a McCain candidacy.
"My sense is there's a significant amount of momentum shifting to Mc-Cain within the Republican Party over the past few months," said Mr. Wittmann, who served as the senator's communications director for two years before quitting last year to join the centrist Democratic Leadership Council.
(Excerpt) Read more at nysun.com ...
Ew. Well you go ahead and vote for the little general.
Zell is indestructible, but even he may not last until 20008 ;-)
Maricopa County Republicans Condemn McCain for Straying from the GOP Reservation
By Dennis Durband
July 8, 2005
By a vote of 17-3, with two abstentions, the Maricopa County Republican Party’s governing board has voted to express its dissatisfaction with the representation of senior U.S. Senator John McCain.
The Executive Guidance Committee passed an amended resolution during its monthly meeting Thursday night. The initial resolution, introduced by Legislative District 11 Chairman Rob Haney, called for a “Resolution of Censure and Shame Over the Representation of John McCain.” Phil Mason introduced an amended resolution that won passage.
Motions to table the resolution and to withhold release of the action for 30 days until McCain could respond were defeated.
Representatives of both Arizona senators, McCain and Jon Kyl, were in attendance to oppose the resolution.
The resolution finds fault with McCain over five issues:
McCain has attacked First and Second Amendment rights through his support for Campaign Finance Reform and his legislation attempt to close down gun shows;
McCain has done great harm to our national defense and economy by twice voting against drilling in the Alaskan Oil Reserves;
McCain is opposed to the amending the U.S. Constitution to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman as stated in the proposed federal marriage amendment act;
McCain has allied with the liberal Democrat Senator Ted Kennedy to introduce another immigration amnesty program for illegal aliens, ignoring the vast majority of Arizona residents to take strong action to stop the invasion of the United States; and
McCain led the derailment of the Republican strategy to end the filibuster of presidential judicial and ambassador appointments, undermining Republican leadership. The Executive Guidance Committee supports the position of both President Bush and Senate President Bill Frist to end the filibuster of nominees.
The EGC then resolved to “express our extreme displeasure with our own Arizona senior Senator John McCain for undermining the conservative mandate of the 2004 election, and state that we condemn John McCain’s betrayal of trust Republican voters placed in him. We further state that only under extremely ‘extraordinary circumstances’ will we support the candidacy of John McCain for President of the United States. We urge other Republican organizations to likewise convey to Senator McCain that they will not support his candidacy.”
Maricopa County GOP becomes the third Republican organization this summer to pass a resolution against the political betrayal of Senator McCain. Last month, the Arizona Republican Assembly voted unanimously to censure McCain, and the GOP Legislative District 11 voted 32-18 to do likewise.
Has moveon.org endorsed him yet?
You left out that he was the head dwarf?
Not a bad idea. If they are going to stay with primaries - Do NOT let people who are not in the party vote. What right does anyone who isn't a member of a party have to decide who is the party's candidate? None. So many Democrats "crossed over" to vote for McCain - just to try and stop Bush, it was a joke.
She didn't earn it yet. She's good, but let her earn it.
I do not think that McCain would be any less conservative than Bush, to tell you the truth, but this article is silly. Clearly, McCain is a media darling, and that is all there is to this. The Miers debacle, and the growing CONSERVATIVE anger toward the White House over spending, etc. has, if anything, made a McCain presidency less viable. If the kingmakers have noticed anything, it is that their base will not longer tolerate the policy of continually seeking appeasement of the left to go after the mythical middle. The Alito nomination and the efforts of the WH to FINALLY fight the anti-Iraq spin, I believe, represents the result of the abandonment of this policy. I am not sure how one can turn that into an improving primary situation for McCain.
And if we stay with primaries, get away from Super Tuesday. This risks us winding up with someone who doesn't deserve our support.
Break up the timing of the primary votes, if it's necessary to keep them.
Deja Vu...Deja Vu...Ross Perot...Ross Perot...
I, William Jefferson Clinton do solemly swear to...
Well we all know how that turned out, don't we?
Reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally?
Wishful-thinking wrapped up in an agenda-driven, name-dropping, Push-voting article.
Well if it is McCain vs most Dems i have no choice but to hold my nose and vote for McCain - Period
A New York paper pushing an AZ senator over their own Rudy G.? That smells to me !
If McCain can figure out a way to get the GOP nomination, I've no doubt that McCain would win New York State in the general election.
Run, Johnny, run...
1. The skin cancer...McCain had melanoma, and that alone will cause a lot of folks NOY to vote for him..
2. His wife..she has virtually droppd off the radar, and no way she could survive the exposure of a campaign for the WH. Think Betty Ford and Teresa Heinz Kerry rolled into one..
Actualy the NY Sun is going by poll numbers. I don't think this is politically motivated to push McCain. All the Polls are saying McCAin/Giuliani are the front runners regardless of what Freepers think.
I know that wasn't directed to me, but here's my 2 cents. I wouldn't vote for McCain under any circumstances because I will not vote for Democrats under any circumstances. I was at the county convention in my state. His supporters were the most vile Dems I have ever been in the same room with.
I solemnly swear to put forth all my efforts to defeat McCain in any Republican presidential primary!
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