Posted on 12/05/2006 8:47:32 AM PST by meg88
Brownback seeks ’08 conservative mantle By Alexander Bolton
Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) yesterday established a presidential exploratory committee, seeking to fill what conservatives say is an absence of strong conservative leadership among top-tier Republican White House candidates.
Brownback immediately sought to position himself as the leading social conservative of the 2008 field.
“I have decided, after much prayerful consideration, to consider a bid for the Republican nomination for the presidency,” Brownback said in a statement. “There is a real need in our country to rebuild the family and renew our culture and there is a need for genuine conservatism and real compassion in the national discussion.”
Brownback, along with outgoing Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), has in recent years been the Senate’s most vocal advocate of social conservatives’ agenda on abortion and related issues.
Brownback’s appeal to social conservatives could help him become the leading alternative to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the perceived frontrunner.
“The way I see the race shaping up is that it’s going to be McCain against someone who’s not McCain,” said David Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union. “McCain has a lot of people in the party who don’t like him.”
McCain has opposed his party on key issues such as tax cuts, campaign finance reform, gun control and global warming — stances that won the admiration of the nation’s media elite, whom conservatives distrust.
Brownback is the third Republican member of Congress to create an exploratory committee. McCain and House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) have both established such panels, as has former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani.
McCain, Giuliani and Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who is expected to set up an exploratory committee soon, are considered by Republican insiders and political analysts as the top tier. Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, an ordained Baptist minister popular with social conservatives, is also among the upper echelon of GOP candidates.
The two Republican officials who were thought to have the best chance of becoming the conservatives’ choice candidate, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and Sen. George Allen (R-Va.), have both dropped out of contention. Frist announced last week that he would not run, and Allen lost his reelection bid in an upset after a dismal campaign that did much damage to his long-term appeal.
Social conservatives are wary of McCain for his stance on campaign finance, of Romney for his views on abortion, and of Giuliani because of his beliefs on both abortion and homosexual rights.
Many are gravitating toward Huckabee because of his experience as a minister, but Huckabee has alienated small-government fiscal conservatives because he raised taxes as governor.
The three most prominent aspirants, McCain, Giuliani, and Romney, are expected to run as centrists, even though they are all now working hard to court conservative support.
“Each of those three is going to run toward the center of the Reagan coalition,” said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, a leader of libertarian small-government conservatives, who hosts a weekly meeting of prominent activists. “McCain despite his apostasy is trying to get in the right place on guns and taxes; Romney is trying to run as a more conservative candidate [and] Giuliani I assume will do the same thing when he gets in the race.”
Norquist criticized Huckabee’s record on fiscal issues.
“He keeps raising taxes,” Norquist said, then alluded to Huckabee’s authorship of a book on his personal weight loss. “He has raised taxes more than once. The one thing Huckabee is known for is that he’s lost lots of weight. I would prefer a fat guy with a skinny budget.”
Tom McClusky, vice president of government affairs for the Family Research Council, one of the most influential conservative advocacy groups in Washington, said Giuliani has been historically “pro-gay rights and pro-abortion.”
McCain, he said, has been “moderately pro-life” and supported issues adamantly opposed by social conservatives, such as embryonic stem-cell research and fetal- tissue research.
Romney, who declared his support for abortion rights during an unsuccessful 1994 Senate race, has a “spotty record on life,” said McCluskey, who said Romney is now “certainly coming around on the issue, which we hope he will, and he has good people working for him.”
McClusky said Brownback might be able to fill a conservative leadership void among top-tier candidates. But even if he does not win the nomination, Brownback could have a major impact on the Republican primary by defining the debate on abortion and other related “life” issues, he said.
Paul Weyrich, chairman of the Free Congress Foundation, who hosts a weekly meeting of influential social conservatives, acknowledged the perceived weakness of conservative credentials among the GOP’s presidential frontrunners. He said Brownback or Huckabee could fill the role of a strong socially conservative candidate.
“Brownback’s candidacy potentially gives us a vehicle and there may be others, like Gov. Huckabee of Arkansas, who many favor because he’s a former preacher and is mesmerizing in his speaking ability.”
Weyrich said that he and other conservative leaders would meet with and question leading presidential candidates to understand their views.
“If we can, we’re gong to try to get behind one of them,” said Weyrich. “If we do, we can give one of the candidates a considerable boost and could kick one of them to the top tier.”
Conservative leaders uniting behind Brownback could push him to the final stages of the GOP primary or perhaps to the nomination.
But Keene, who is also columnist for The Hill, said Brownback’s strength is also his weakness. He may appeal to social conservatives but faces the challenge of having to win over a broader spectrum of Republicans.
“His reach doesn’t go much beyond the social conservative base,” said Keene. “To run a viable candidacy you have to do more than that. At least Brownback has a claim that none of the others have on that segment of the movement. His challenge will be to get other conservatives, [such as] anti-tax people.”
Keene said Brownback is better known by conservative voters than other Republicans positioning themselves as alternatives to McCain. He cited former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson and former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore as examples.
Keene said conservatives are afraid of McCain because of his past stances on tax cuts and campaign finance reform, and because he has a reputation for doling out political retribution.
“Conservatives are afraid of him because they think he doesn’t like them and goes after most people he doesn’t like,” said Keene.
"Thats what the George H.W. Bush and John B. Anderson people said about Ronald Reagan in 1980. It's also what the Humphrey and Scoop Jackson people said about Jimmy Carter in '76."
Those are completely different situations. In 1976 we had a struggling Republican President in office. No surprise the Democratic nominee won. In 1980 we had a struggling Democrat President in office. No surprise the Republican nominee won. In 2008 we are going to be having a struggling Republican President in office. Its going to take a special, popular Republican to defeat the Democratic nominee.
I love Haley and Steele, but do either have the name recognition it will take this go-round?
It seems to me that it is McCain's nomination to lose. People want someone that they recognize, and his philosophy will be a little more compatible than that of Giuliani. I don't think any of the others are much more than asterisks at this time. McCain though could be another 1996 Dole instead of a 1980 Reagan! Already Trent Lott is said to be for McCain.
McCain has been building his machine for this election for at least three years... using a lot of Bush people from what I've read. I don't like McCain and I don't trust McCain... personally I think he has a screw loose.
Agreed, but the people like him, and they can be easily fooled time and time again.
Somehow I think the dems like him a lot more than most of the rest of us.
" Nah. They will be too busy having fun with Mr. Barak Hussein Obama-nation."
Barack Hussein Obama was on Leno last Friday and Leno treated him like a god.
Leno also mentioned Obama's Friday appearance on Monday's show ( not in his usual Bush is an idiot mode, but, all reverential ) and the audience went wild with happiness.
Leno has clearly hitched his wagon to Obama's star.
I bet most of Hollywood is going to do the same .
From what I have observed, Leno is nice to everyone. He tries to be fair. Give it time. He won't pass up any good jokes.
>>From what I have observed, Leno is nice to everyone. He tries to be fair. Give it time. He won't pass up any good jokes.
I agree. I don't know what Leno's politics are but his jokes are pretty bi-partisan. He takes shots at everyone without being too mean-spirited.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.