RINO alert!
Posted on 11/10/2006 2:07:19 PM PST by West Coast Conservative
His party may have taken "a thumpin'," in the words of President Bush, but ABC News has learned that Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and his political team have decided it's full steam ahead for his 2008 presidential campaign. Although no absolute, final decision has been made, sources close to McCain say on Wednesday in Phoenix, he and a half dozen of his top aides huddled and decided to proceed more formally with his quest for the White House.
A presidential exploratory committee will be set up this month — perhaps as early as next week.
McCain's official, final decision will likely not come until after the Christmas holidays, when he will talk to his wife, Cindy, and his children.
Among his seven children, Jimmy is at boot camp at Camp Pendleton; Jack is at the Naval Academy; and daughter Megan is in her senior year at Columbia University.
In the meantime, McCain's team is exploring office space in Virginia, hiring staff and building infrastructure in key early-primary states such as Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.
Strategy Could Target Swing Voters, Bipartisan Issues
Despite Republican losses of the House and Senate, McCain sees encouraging signs for his personal quest.
Independent voters were the key swing voters in this election, going overwhelmingly for Democrats.
Republicans will want to focus on winning them back, and according to polls, McCain is more popular with them than he is with conservative Republicans.
In exit polls, Republican voters expressed disappointment with their party on the issues of fiscal restraint and government ethics, issues McCain has tried to make his signature.
"A lot of people look at the Republican Congress and say the problem is they only took half measures of which McCain wanted to do in full measure," said former Bush adviser Mark McKinnon, who worked on the 2004 campaign.
He said McCain had been a "leader for years" in those areas.
"All the relevant issues in the Congress now — spending reform, ethics reform — are issues that John McCain has been talking about for a long time," he said.
Why would McCain start his campaign so early?
For one reason, the race is wide open — with no president or vice president running for the first time in 80 years.
Already Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., and Democratic Gov. Tom Vilsack of Iowa have announced their intentions.
The race also looks to be expensive. In 2004, President Bush spent more than $345 million on his campaign.
Though he's considered his party's front-runner, McCain faces some considerable hurdles.
Having turned 70 in August, he would be the oldest U.S. president to get elected. And he faces at least one strong challenger within the party, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, and others in the seemingly ascendant Democratic Party, such as Sens. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and Barack Obama, D-Ill.
Moreover, McCain has yet to resolve the problems he's had with the Republican Party's conservative base.
"He has a problem with pro-lifers on judges, he … became very hostile to the Second Amendment community and supportive of gun control. He has a problem with the economic conservatives because he's been bad on taxes for six years now," said longtime critic Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, which includes individuals and businesses opposed to higher taxes.
"Conservatives who care about the tax issue are very concerned that he opposed Bush's tax cuts," Norquist said.
McCain has tried to combat that with goodwill. He appeared at 346 events for Republican candidates this election cycle and was said to be the most requested speaker for GOP candidates.
"He's built a base across the country, and unlike [in] 2000, John McCain will run a 50-state strategy," McKinnon said.
While emphasizing more bipartisan issues such as campaign finance reform and a patients' bill of rights early in the Bush presidency, McCain has more recently strongly supported the war in Iraq.
He may very well be the only serious presidential contender calling for more troops to go to Iraq.
While he opposes a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, he supported such an effort in his state — an effort that failed.
McCain has also attempted to reach out to conservative evangelical leaders, as he did with the Rev. Jerry Falwell earlier this year.
Appealing to those conservatives while keeping the independents so important to his party's 2008 hopes may pose a considerable challenge.
Well if the Republican primary voters choose him I will campaign for him and pray to God he wins. But he is not my forst choice by any means
McCain has already had 2 [known] bouts with malignant melanoma. The first was in 1993. The last was in 2000. The odds are high that he will be battling it again before 2008. I don't wish this on him. I would not wish melanoma on anyone. But I think his health is and will remain a significant obstacle between him and the White House.
Is he trying to kill off the Republicans altogether by following the election news with this?
John McCain will become Bob Dole redux.
Bob Dole is a looser and John McCain will loose just like Bob Dole because the Clinton's will wipe him out!
Don't worry about John McCain getting elected because that will never happen!
McCain't can Run alright....RUN for the southern border since we will send him back to Az. for good.
Just amazing comment. As bad as McCain is, you have no idea what Hillary is capable of doing. You don't think she would shut down talk radio? She would do anything she wanted to do. What, is someone going to impeach her?
Amen. McCain's a fake. Anybody remember the Keating Five? Is it not amazing that the MSM seems to have forgotten? But then, John's their boy. If they can get him the nomination, they win either way.
It does seem like his buddies in the press are trying hard to kill off the competition early, doesn't it?
Well, it's that kind of thinking that got us into the mess we found ourselves in on Wednesday.
I couldn't possibly vote for someone who has the stink of Ted Kennedy on him ("comprehensive" immigration reform bill).
There really should be a BARF alert on this.
Why must this whack job run for president, we have enough problems already, leave us alone.
Perhaps we could find someone about 20 years younger.
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Perhaps we could find anyone else.
RINO alert!
"Swing" voters don't vote in Republican primaries. Am I wrong?
Some sign a commitment order on John before he hurts someone.
Giving us a stunningly STUPID selection of RINO's to choose from in the Primaries would be signing this countries death warrent.
That is pretty old. I am not as anti-McCain as other Freepers, but the age thing makes me pause, especially since he is not in perfect health by any means. At the very least, it would bring alot of attention to his VP choice. Reagan was old, but you always got the sense that, pre-Alzheimers, he was vibrant and healthy. Not so with McCain.
No Way - No How!!
One thing I will NEVER do is pull the lever for a RAT!
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