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Posted on 02/02/2007 9:08:48 AM PST by Reagan Man
A speech given by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney before a National Review-sponsored conference last week may have been panned as unfocused, but in the eyes of those who attended, he at least had one thing going for him: He showed up.
Sen. John McCain and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, both of whom face serious skepticism from many conservatives, skipped the National Review event, and neither plans to attend a gathering of the Republican Study Committee, a group of conservative House members, this weekend in Baltimore.
Rep. Jeb Hensarling of Texas, the RSC chairman, is "looking forward to hearing Mitt Romney and believes that the RSC retreat offers a unique opportunity for some of the top minds in the conservative movement to come together to strategize, discuss and be heard," said Brad Dayspring, a spokesman for the group.
Romney, who is aggressively seeking the favor of conservative leaders, is on the schedule to address the RSC on Friday. In March, he is scheduled to speak at the Club for Growth's winter conference in Florida and to appear before the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington.
David Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union and one of the chief organizers of CPAC, said his group hadn't heard back yet from either McCain or Giuliani about whether they'll be at the three-day meeting, which starts March 1. "I frankly don't get it," Keene shrugged in an interview Wednesday. "On the one hand," he said, McCain has been "trying to court the right, but on the other, he seems to be dissing them."
Keene, who has not picked a candidate, readily admits that he has his differences with the maverick senator, but suggested that McCain has pluses that would resonate before a conservative audience, notably his hawkish stance on government spending and the Iraq war.
Asked to explain why they would pass on an opportunity to make their case before such influential audiences, members of McCain's camp said they don't have as much to prove.
"It's important to keep in mind that the senator has served as a conservative for over 20 years in Congress," said campaign spokesman Danny Diaz. "These people know him, they know his pro-life record, his fiscal conservatism, his stance on the war on terror. The same can't be said for others in the race."
When McCain cannot attend an event, he has sent surrogates, Diaz said. Conservative activist Bob Heckman was at the National Review conference, and former Sen. Phil Gramm is standing in for him at the RSC meeting in Baltimore. As for the CPAC gathering in March, Diaz said a decision would be made in the "coming days and weeks."
Giuliani's team excuses his absence from National Review and RSC by pointing out that he is speaking to conservative audiences in places that will have considerable sway in deciding the next nominee. The former mayor was in New Hampshire last weekend addressing the Republican convention, said Giuliani spokeswoman Katie Levinson. "This weekend he's down in South Carolina at the invitation of the state party." He'll also speak to the state party's executive committee.
Reaching out to Republicans across the board is important to Giuliani, she said, and is something he'll continue to do aggressively.
A decision has not been made on if Giuliani will attend CPAC, but he plans to speak before the board of the conservative Hoover Institution when it meets for a conference next month in Washington.
As with McCain, ACU's Keene predicts Giuliani would get a decent reaction should he also make it to CPAC in part because he's a celebrity of sorts. "Many conservatives admire his performance in NYC on crime, taxes and after 9/11," he said.
To Romney's camp, there is truth to Woody Allen's maxim about the importance of just showing up.
"As the old saying goes, a true friend is the person who walks into the room when all the others get up and walk out," quipped Kevin Madden, a spokesman for the former governor. "As a conservative Republican who wants to lead our party to victory and champion our ideals, Governor Romney prefers to reach out to these important groups as opposed to ignoring them."
[Martin comes to Politico from National Review, where he wrote about politics for the magazine and the Web site. Prior to that, he worked for The Hotline covering topics ranging from gubernatorial contests to congressional leadership battles.]
PING
I'm shocked! /s
bump
Hey Nancy b....er...Reagan Man. :) You probably should add Jim Robinson to your ping list given his views on this subject. Just a thought...
Dear TitansAFC,
"I'm no fan of Romney, but at least he's making an effort at convincing us he's converted."
That's a very good point in Mr. Romney's favor.
"Ah yes, the hide Rudy campaign beings in full-force. We're going to be treated to Clinton-style "no questions" forums, carefully staged only-pro-Rudy meetings and speeches, and a PR blitz focused on everything but the issues SoCons/Gun Conservatives care about."
In all fairness to Mr. Giuliani, that may be completely appropriate, especially in light of this thread:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1777991/posts
* chuckle *
sitetest
BTTT.
BTTT!
Romney is the first Republican running for President who has sent me a mailing of any kind. It wouldn't be hard for him to find me, I volunteered for both Bush campaigns, have given money to the RNC, the National Right to Life, and the Reagan Presidential Library, and I subscribe to the National Review, Weekly Standard, Human Events, and the Limbaugh Letter.
It also wouldn't be hard for the other candidates to find me, and yet, they have made no attempt thus far.
Mitt Romney seems to understand the GOP`s conservative base is critical to winning the primary/convention nomination of the party. And to become the GOP nominee for 2008, a candidate will have to secure the vast majority of conservative activist voters in the primary election phase. That is gonna be impossible if a candidate is a social liberal and chooses to fully ignore the power of social conservatives.
Thanks for the post. If you're running for the GOP nomination and you decide to ignore conservatives for whatever reason, you will lose.
"But they are conservatives!!" LOL!
BTTT
Skipping conservative events is intended to marginalize social conservatives and gun owners, to make liberal gun-grabber Rudeinsky appear acceptable.
The Julie-annie strategy from the get-go was to hijack the Republican party, and dump social conservatives/gun owners from the party.
Many longtime donors complained ex-RNC chair Kenny Mehlman went out of his way to alienate social conservatives. Not to forget this pro-abort braindead dude was the architect of the Nov 2006 debacle, which got his *** handed to him
Now here's the hijack plan straight from the horse's mouth, neocon guru Irving Kristol (father of Fox pundit Billy), "The historical task and political purpose of neoconservatism would seem to be.....to convert the Republican Party and American conservatism in general, against their respective wills, into a new kind of conservative politics suitable to governing a modern democracy."
Too bad this crank doesn't like our way of government......but I hope the guy gets professional help for that dictator fixation of his.
Republicans Can't Win Without Christian Conservatives (this means you, Rudy)
SOURCE: http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:QS6fK2c8AP0J:pewforum.org/events/index.php%3FEventID%3D115
Americans who regularly attend worship services and hold traditional Christian religious views increasingly vote Republican, while those who are less connected to religious institutions and more secular in their outlook tend to vote Democratic, according to a major study by the Pew Forum.
Some of the conclusions of this report were already evident in 2004 exit polling data. For example, voters who attend church more than once a week (16 percent of all voters) chose Bush over Kerry by a margin of 64 – 35 percent.
Likewise, those who attend Christian denominational Churches on a weekly basis (26 percent of voters) supported the President by a 58 – 41 percent margin. Also very telling, those who never attend Church (15 percent of voters) overwhelmingly supported Kerry 62 – 36 percent.
The study further found that traditionalist elements within each religion tended to vote Republican, while modernist groups within the religions trended towards the Democrats. A multiple regression analysis of exit poll and public opinion survey data from 2000 and 2004 enabled the Pew Research Center to assign a relative weight to various demographic markers.
Interestingly, church attendance was tied with race as the most significant factor. But even that number is deceiving; in that race is only an important factor due to the high level of support the Democrats receive from black voters.
These trends represent a major shift over the past forty-five years. White Christian Evangelicals in 1960 favored Democrats by a two-to-one margin; now they are Republican by a 56 – 27 percent margin. Seventy-eight percent of them voted for President Bush in 2004.
In 1960, 71 percent of Catholics were Democrats and now Democrats have only a slight edge among Catholics (44 – 41 percent) and Catholics voted for President Bush (52 – 47 percent) in 2004. These trends have also brought an increased acceptance of religion in the public square.
While Americans do tend to favor the separation of church and state, 70 percent of voters want their President to have strong Christian religious beliefs. Likewise, the study reveals that 52 percent of Americans believe that Christian churches should express political views. Surprisingly, support for political involvement of churches is strongest among younger voters age 18 to 29 (59 percent).
Dear BaBaStooey,
"Romney is the first Republican running for President who has sent me a mailing of any kind."
Gee, I haven't gotten mine (yet). I think my feelings are hurt. ;-)
"It also wouldn't be hard for the other candidates to find me, and yet, they have made no attempt thus far."
On the other hand, Mr. Romney was nowhere to be seen on January 22, at the March for Life.
Both Rep. Hunter and Sen. Brownback showed and gave speeches strongly supporting the cause of life. As well, Mr. Brownback made a substantial effort with a large number of his folks handing out literature to anyone who would take it.
sitetest
This should be shouted from the rooftops. Pat Buchanan would have been committed to a mental asylum if he had even suggested that this was part of the "neo-conservative" agenda.
No matter how many posts on this thread are written, what you wrote will sum it all up in those 5 simple words.
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