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About 30 percent of conservative activists will stay home or vote for somebody else if Sen. John McCain of Arizona is the Republican presidential nominee, Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio said yesterday. The straw poll of activists at the 35th annual Conservative Political Action Conference showed resistance to Mr. McCain remains strong among conservatives and did not change much with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's suspension of his campaign Thursday. Before Mr. Romney dropped out, 14 percent said they would not vote, 22 percent said they would vote for someone else and 62 percent said they would back Mr. McCain. After...

McCain a 'True Conservative,' Bush Says Feb 10 09:36 AM US/Eastern WASHINGTON (AP) - John McCain is a "true conservative," President Bush says, although the presumptive Republican presidential nominee may have to work harder to convince other conservatives that he is one of their own. McCain "is very strong on national defense," Bush said in an interview taped for airing on "Fox News Sunday." "He is tough fiscally. He believes the tax cuts ought to be permanent. He is pro-life. His principles are sound and solid as far as I'm concerned." But when asked about criticism of McCain by conservative...

Although Arizona Sen. John McCain has seized a commanding lead in the race for the GOP presidential nomination, Washington's Republican caucus-goers showed they are still very divided on their party's nominee. With 87 percent of precincts reporting Saturday night, the state party declared McCain the victor with only a narrow lead over former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, and Texas Congressman Ron Paul a fairly close third. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who suspended his presidential campaign last week, also received a sizable chunk of delegates. - -clip- - In Auburn for his caucuses, former state Republican Party Chairman Chris Vance...

There are elements in the Republican Party who are trying to turn the GOP into the victim party. No matter how much they've won, they want to see themselves as losers. An e-mail I received from a reader summed up the resentment that has been bubbling up all over the GOP. She had liked Fred Thompson and Duncan Hunter as GOP hopefuls and didn't know if she would vote for John McCain. "I began to rethink my allegiance to the Republican Party last summer with the immigration reform bill after party leaders told the rank and file to screw themselves,"...

WASHINGTON--Arizona Senator John McCain eked out a narrow victory in the Republican Party's caucuses in the northwestern state of Washington, the state party chairman announced late Saturday. Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee earlier Saturday defeated McCain in Republican presidential primaries in Louisiana and Kansas. McCain, 71, a Vietnam war hero, is far ahead of his opponents in the delegate count and is the party's presumptive 2008 presidential standard bearer, though he faces opposition from core Republican conservatives. With 87 percent of precincts reporting in Washington state, McCain led with 26 percent of the delegates, against 24 percent for Huckabee and...

I posted a squib on the National Review Web site about a robo call I received from John McCain. (Virginia's primary is Tuesday.) The call stressed that he would, if elected, be a down-the-line limited government conservative who would never raise taxes, would defend life, would enforce immigration laws and would win the war on terror. The candidate is trying, I said, to meet conservatives "more than halfway." The response of readers was, shall we say, emphatic. One lady wrote that she would never vote for him as "He is the most disloyal, ill-tempered man and he brings out the...

There's an old Groucho Marx riff in which he launches a new career as a stick-up artist -- while worrying that his native cowardice may not induce the requisite fear among his victims. Sure enough, after a little time in a dark alley he springs out to confront his first victim, points his gun to his own head and says, "Take one step closer and I'll kill myself." Such is the posture today among pundits on the far right of the Republican Party as Sen. John McCain moves closer to receiving his party's nomination. Consider the destructive implications of their...

It was High Noon on television, and the camera kept cutting away to those narrow shots of wall clocks and grandfather clocks and cuckoo clocks and pocket watches: that annoying clonk, clonk, clonk as the seconds ticked by and the train barreled closer. You remember the film. Everybody in town knew that Gary Cooper was the right man to stand up to the bad guys coming in on the noon train. But the unctuous Henry Morgan and all the rest of the town's bankers and shopkeepers wouldn't stand with him, and Grace Kelly, the sweet religious girl who loved him...

John McCain is the perfect sacrificial lamb to atone for the sins of the RNC & GOPHe symbolizes ALL that is WRONG with the GOP and once he's run through the chipper shredder named Barak Obama MAYBE, JUST M-A-Y-B-E the RINOs will the see the futility of nominating one of their own for POTUS

How conservative is Mr. McCain? During his quarter century in Washington, the senator has assembled an 82% rating from the American Conservative Union, placing him 39th among senators in 2006, while drawing a 25% lifetime rating from the liberal American Civil Liberties Union. Hillary Clinton, by contrast, has a 75% ACLU lifetime rating. A scorecard by the antitax Club for Growth, a conservative political-action committee, ranked him 29th among 55 Republican senators in 2006.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney narrowly beat John McCain, 35 to 34 percent, in a straw poll of conservative political activists gathered Saturday in Washington — a vote that is viewed as a barometer of support from that major GOP voting bloc. The announcement of Romney’s win was greeted by cheers from the crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference. McCain is the frontrunner for the Republican nomination. Roughly three-quarters of the votes in the three-day CPAC 2008 straw poll were cast before Mitt Romney dropped out of the presidential race, and one-quarter after his withdrawal.....

CORNERSTONE Church in Texas is one of America's so-called megachurches, the size and shape of an aircraft hangar. The 5,000-strong congregation drives from miles around to hear the Good News. Afterwards they tuck into sizzling meat and listen to a young Christian rock group as they belt out tunes praising the Lord. Flipping a burger, one grey-haired teacher in a polo shirt and shorts says that when you have God in your life, election choices become simple: "I let the pastor do it." The congregation tends to follow the pastor's instructions, and at the moment those are likely to recommend...

The first question asked of the 1,000 conservative activists was: "In your opinion, is Senator John McCain a true conservative?" The results: Yes 197 (19.7%) No 595 (59.5%) Undecided 208 (20.8%)

Folks, there still may be a slim chance to force a deadlocked convention. I'm no election math wizard, but I believe it's still mathematically possible for McCain to NOT receive the requisite number of delegates to win the nomination. But it would require a great turnout of passionate conservative voters in the remaining primary states to accomplish. The trick would be for all remaining primary conservative voters to vote for their favorite candidate as if he were still in the race. Fred's name is still on the ballot. So is Hunter's and Romney's. Shoot, vote for Huckabee, Paul or even...

Now that you have a guy who could actually win, you don’t want him. You conservatives make me laugh. Here you have a war hero taking control of your party — a real one, not like our guy last time, what was his name, you know, “Mr. Sixteen Weeks” — and you’re acting like he’s some weird combination of William Howard Taft and Leon Trotsky. Sure, he’s a little nutty after all those years getting his bones re-broken every six months at the Hanoi Hilton, and his hand more or less grazed the cookie jar during the Keating Five scandal,...

McCain is NOT Conservatives' choice, says President Bush's TEXAS' GOP - Because of "a litany of issues in which conservatives feel betrayed by McCain — Stem Cell research, the federal Marriage amendment, campaign Finance", ". "He's definitely NOT the Conservatives' choice", said "Kelly Shackelford, chief counsel of the Liberty Legal Institute, a Conservative group" in US President GWBush's State of TEXAS. - "I think he's going to have a Hard time," said"Valoree Swanson of Spring, a member of the (GOP) State Republican Executive Committee". => "Some expressed the HOPE that former Arkansas Gov. Mike HUCKABEE would remain in the race...

On Thursday, at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, Sen. John McCain stood before thousands of conservatives he has done his level best to anger and alienate for a decade -- to ask for their support. And he made a not unconvincing case. What he said essentially was this. We have fought each other in the past, and we have fought side by side. And I admit to having made my share of mistakes. But if we do not work together, we lose the presidency. And if we lose the presidency, your causes will be lost, as well as...

Mike Huckabee this week picked up the endorsement of Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, who reiterated his statement Tuesday that he could not vote for presumptive Republican Presidential nominee John McCain even in November against a Democrat. Speaking of Senator McCain, the Christian broadcaster said "His record on the institution of the family and other conservative issues makes his candidacy a matter of conscience and concern for me." We haven't endorsed any candidate, and it's up to Mr. McCain to convince Mr. Dobson that he's worthy of his vote. But for the network of socially conservative activists who...

Sen. Thad Cochran has shifted his support to Sen. John McCain for president. Cochran made the announcement in a statement Thursday after his first choice, former Massachusetts governor, Mitt Romney, dropped out of the Republican race. Mississippi's other senator, Roger Wicker, a Republican, had endorsed former Tennessee senator, Fred Thompson, who has also withdrawn from the race. Wicker has not announced his support for another candidate. GOP Cong. Chip Pickering endorsed McCain last year. Cong. Bennie Thompson, a Democrat, has endorsed fellow Democrat, Barack Obama for president.

On the eve of the Super Tuesday primaries that would confirm him as the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, John McCain joined two heretical members of a party that has made itself synonymous with orthodox conservatism--California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, both supporters of abortion rights, gay rights and reasonably functional government--at a solar technology plant in Los Angeles. They talked about their shared commitment to address global warming. And they reminded everyone that the Republican Party of John McCain is not the Republican Party of George W. Bush or Rush Limbaugh. While Democrat...