Posted on 06/07/2005 5:22:03 AM PDT by Gipper08
WASHINGTON - (KRT) - Mark McKinnon, the Austin political consultant who oversaw the advertising for President Bush in the 2000 and 2004 campaigns, has committed to help Sen. John McCain in a second presidential bid.
McKinnon - one of the president's closest friends and confidants and a frequent mountain biking companion - met with the Arizona Republican over lunch this spring in the Senate dining room to discuss his support, said a GOP activist familiar with the meeting.
At this point, McCain, who lost to Bush in a bitter 2000 Republican primary, is in the early but unmistakable stages of laying the groundwork for another campaign. And McKinnon has indicated he would review his options, should Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice or the president's brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, run in 2008.
The White House has sent word that Jeb Bush should be taken at his word, that he will not run. Rice, just four months into her new job, is not expected to seek the presidency, though some top Republicans have suggested she might be considered for vice president.
McKinnon, vice chairman of the Austin-based consulting firm Public Strategies Inc., said on Monday he's had "friendly conversations with Senator McCain" but would not discuss his commitment.
"I like the senator a lot, but it is too early to speculate on his intentions, as he has said himself, not to mention mine," McKinnon said in an e-mailed statement. "My political focus right now is on a successful second-term agenda for President Bush."
McCain's political strategist, John Weaver, said the senator is heartened by those "encouraging him to run," but that he has not yet decided whether he will.
"He's not out organizing," Weaver said, "and he's instructed us not to do that, either....."
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(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
RINO alert
It won't help
I and many others WILL NOT vote for McCain
What's wrong with George Allen (VA)? Or Sam Brownback for that matter?
I just couldnt do it either, how about Bill Owens?
McCain shot a big hole in his own foot.
[snip] And McKinnon has indicated he would review his options, should Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice or the president's brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, run in 2008.
This article begins with the unequivocal statement that McKinnon has commited to help McCain, and the remainder of the article says that McKinnon is keeping his options open.
Wishful thinking on the part of the author?
In all honesty .. I think it is too earlier to pick a canidate for 2008
Any thing can happen between now and then
With that said .. the only one that I would rule out so far is John McCain
He cannot be trusted in the Senate ..
What makes him think we will trust him with our country?
If we dont nominate a moderate in 08, the GOP will lose the white house.(this estimate is void upon Hillary running)
Owens is no longer viable for at least five reasons.If you want a true conservative you need to look at Pence.
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2005/5/8/143759.shtml
McCain takes up a lot of oxygen. He's an expert at it. He'll take up oxygen and money and time and effort until he's shoved out of the picture.
His presidential campaign won't go anywhere but he'll cause a lot of grief in the meantime.
If that is the case then I want Hillary. There are more important things than winning.You are wrong BTW, CONSERVATISM wins every time.
I guess the game plan is to stoke the fires of Clinton-hatred so high that voters can't see the real McCaniac through all the smoke.
Should be about the lowest voter turnout in recent history.
I will not vote for McCain.
McCain is a NUT. Hillary is a CROOK. Which is worse--?
We must have a conservative who, more than anything else they do, will continue to nominate "originalists" to our highest courts; and that is not McCain. The biggest danger to the republic, and to conservative principles, comes from the continued erosion of democracy through the slow, and methodical creation of a judicial oligarchy. That, more than legislation involving fiscal issues or specific social issues is our biggest current and long term problem; and Allen understands this while McCain does not. I will do all I can to help committ McCain to the trash-heap of Republican history.
Typical loser mentality, designed to achieve a Dim-Lite RINO, not to win.
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