Posted on 11/10/2006 5:49:35 PM PST by freespirited
Sen. John McCain, considered the front-runner for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, intends to launch an exploratory committee next week, GOP officials said Friday....
McCain, the GOP maverick who unsuccessfully sought his party’s nomination in 2000, already has opened a bank account for the committee, one official said.
The senator has made no decision about running for president,” said Eileen McMenamin, a McCain spokeswoman.
Aides to McCain say the senator will discuss whether to seek the presidency with his family over the Christmas holiday, and make a final decision thereafter...
Since losing to Bush in 2000, McCain has alternately challenged and embraced the president, building an independent reputation who isn’t afraid to speak his mind.
McCain has spent the past year padding his Straight Talk America political action committee with supporters in the early primary states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina...and 15 months before the first primary contest in Iowa, McCain is considered the one to beat in a crowded field of potential GOP candidates. They include Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee, Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
An Associated Press-AOL News poll conducted late last month found Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Giuliani and McCain were essentially tied for support. Rice has insisted that she will not run.
This year, McCain had taken steps to improve his relationship with conservatives, addressing a graduation class at Liberty University at the invitation of the Rev. Jerry Falwell, a former adversary...
He has alienated conservatives, however, for opposing a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and supporting federal expansion of embryonic stem-cell research...
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
that would be Ross Perot all over again and Hillary would be elected like Bill was.
He wouldn't even need Powell for a 3rd party run, he would pull away enough voters himself to throw the election to Hillary.
He didn't pull away many voters the lat time he ran in the primaries. He couldn't get elected dog catcher outside of AZ let him throw his money away.
Shouldn't a barf alert be put on this thread?
Does McCain have a heart condition? Does he even have one?
I know he has cancer that is supposedly in remission....
I bet he would get 5-8% of the vote running as an Independent in a 3 ways race... Just enough so Hillary would win.
Two words.
McCain-Feingold.
I've already made my decision about McPain. Thumbs be down.
McCain actually made his mind up to run in December, 2004.
He's been running since 2000 and has not forgiven President Bush for being selected and elected. He's a sorry loser and just sorry, period.
I'm in no mood for RINOs, no matter how electable the MSM tells me they are.
Hey McCain .. let me help you save alot of time and money
My answer is ... Not a chance in hell would I ever vote for you!!!!
McCain may be disliked by his party BUT after the disaster of midterm elections he is reviled by the conservative arm of the Republican Party. His coalition of the GANG OF 14 traduced the conservative agenda, helped Democraps to get rid of Tom DeLay, and brought us Hastert.And conservative Pubbies did not forget and never will.
A lesson should be learned about the midterms. Conservative Pubbies stayed home in droves because the Gang of 14 and its RINOs halted the conservative agenda which conservatives had voted for in 2004.Largely because of McCain the Pubbies did not deliver as promised.
Without the conservative Republican vote, McCain has NO chance of defeating Hillery Clampon Clinton.
McCain can posture all he wants. He hasn't a snowball's chance in hell of becoming POTUS.
Yep .. they played us this past election
Won't being making that mistake again
I agree. However, if McCain should somehow maneuver himself on the ticket as the Republican nominee for Pres, then I suppose I would hold my nose and vote for him - especially if his opponent should be Hillary... However, politics aside, he's just too old and I don't think he will make through the primaries.
YEP, he gonna screw up Christmas... :(
Geez, that would be a shock: McCain running for President.
Who would have thunk it?!
I’m stuned.
I hope McCain realizes his time is past. He will be 72 in 2008. And he's not a healthy, vigorous 72, like Reagan was. At a certain point, it is time to leave the stage and let younger men take over.
He's the media's darling now, but let him get the nomination and we will be treated to six months of stories about how he is to old, has health problems, might be mentally unstable, involved in the Keating five scandal. By the time the media is through with him, Hillary won't even have to bother to campaign...
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