Posted on 01/24/2006 3:36:29 PM PST by Libloather
White House race: GoP banks on McCain to beat Hillary
Sarah Baxter
[Tuesday, January 24, 2006 11:57:52 pm THE SUNDAY TIMES]
WASHINGTON: Republicans are warming up to John McCain as the politician most likely to beat Hillary Clinton to the White House in 2008 and to clear the party of the taint of sleaze.
A poll last week showed McCain could trounce Clinton, the Democrat favourite, by 52 to 36. The 16-point lead reveals that he has a decisive advantage among independents and swing voters.
"The more scandal and corruption in Washington, the better it is for McCain. He is at a high point right now," said Chuck Todd, editor-in-chief of National Journal's Hotline news service, which commissioned the poll.
The Arizona senator's standing among Republican activists nosedived after he was beaten by George W Bush to the presidential nomination in a bitter race in 2000.
However, McCain went on to stake out an independent position on the war in Iraq, which he considers to have been botched, and he led a successful campaign in Congress to ban the use of torture and the cruel and degrading treatment of detainees.
Republicans have found the maverick senator indispensable in their struggle against the blues that have afflicted Bush's second term.
McCain is at the centre of every debate, where his hawkish views on the war on terror, Iraq's future and a nuclear Iran have won him respect.
In Congress he is leading his party's efforts to get out of a mire over lobbying and corruption after Jack Abramoff, a Republican lobbyist, was indicted for attempting to bribe politicians.
I know this one for sure will not participate in a vote for McQueeg or Hitlery.
McCain SUCKS.
I'd like to see McCain and H. Dean fight to the finish in a cage.
Rudy for VEEP.
Satire, right?
Really?
Not this Republican!
I suspect that Sen. George Allen has a better shot at the nomination than McCain.
Lord help us.
Hillary is counting on that.
McQueeg will NOT be the GOP 2008 presidential candidate; I agree.
Never thought about that....but now that you mention it.....hmmm
Yes, always consider the source.
And that's just lip-service........
Nothing new under the sun.
McCain winning the nomination is almost inconceivable.
If that inconceivable event happens, and the alternative is Hillary, we'll have to support him because he'll have defeated his competition and Hillary is more unacceptable than he is.
Frankly, I will be surprised if he runs. He's old.
Same here, that is some strategy. Then we will hear four years maybe eight of the same people complaining about how bad it is. The old cut off your nose to spite you face routine.
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