The election will not be dcided on McCain Feingold, and neither will even the primaries. A Wall Street Journall poll taken earlier this month listed voters’ top priorities as:
1. The war in Iraq 34%
2. Health care 15%
3. Illegal immigration 12%
4. Terrorism 12%
5. Job creation and economic growth 8%
6. Energy and the cost of gas 6%
7. The environment and global warming 6%
8. Reducing the federal budget deficit 4%
9. All equally (vol.) 3%
These are the things most people are worried about, not McCain-Feingold, not tort reform and not the Council on Foreign Relations.
You gotta realize that even most conservative likely primary voters are far more conserned about these issues and how they affect their families. Most of them don’t hang around polical websites arguing over which candidate is the most conservative or even the most electable. That’s stuff for the political junkies like us who are a very small percentage of the number of conservatives who are likely to vote in the primaries.
They care about who’s going to keep the jihadists off of American soil, who’s going to secure the borders, who’s going to let the IRS take the least out of their paychecks, who’s going to give them more control over their kids’ schools and who’s going to encourage policies which will lower the cost of the fuel that runs their cars and trucks, lights their homes and keeps them warm in the winter and cool in the summer.
They notice when it costs more to bring home groceries from the store, to replace the washer or dryer, and to send a child to college. They don’t mind paying for their opwn helth insurance, but they don’t want to get burned on it, either.
Those who run small businesses want to be able to provide insurance for their employees, but not if it means they have to give up so much of their profits that it just isn’t worth it anymore. They want government regulators off of their backs and out of their businesses, bedrooms and gun safes.
Sometimes we get so involved in debating the finer points of conservatism or federalism that we lose sight of the fact that we are nowhere close to “average” voters, even in the primaries, where the more politically astute and activist tend to participate in larger percentages.
That's true. "Most people" won't worry about that other stuff, but aren't we supposed to be smarter than "most people" and deduce certain patterns from prior behavior? At any rate, most of our candidates agree on the top issues you listed, don't they? Aren't they all pretty strong on the WOT, except Ron Paul? **Hunter is the strongest on immigration though.**