McCain's Task Stays the Same: Win Over Conservatives
Mitt Romney is gone, his campaign suspended. Sen. John McCain, the frontrunner before Romney's announcement, has a relatively clear path to the nomination.
Yet he still has a problem - those suspicious conservatives. (As NPR's David Folkenflik reported recently conservative talk-radio has been hammering McCain like he's gong.) Currying favor was one of the reasons McCain asked to be put on the speaker's list for the conservative CPAC convention in Washington. (He turned them down last year.) He'll give his speech there shortly.
But that was before the Romney announcement when it looked like he really needed conservative support. So does that mean he'll change his approach to the talk, knowing that the nomination is probably his regardless of how the conservatives feel about him?
Probably not, says Ken Rudin, NPR's political editor. While he might not need them for the nomination, he'll need them in the fall general election. Ken says the task remains the same for McCain - winning over dubious conservatives.
We'll have more here later after McCain's speech.
Update:
Ed Morrissey, of Captain's Quarters, who is live blogging the MCain speech, writes that he had just the right approach when he made these remarks near the beginning of his speech;
"And I am acutely aware that I cannot succeed in that endeavor, nor can our party prevail over the challenge we will face from either Senator Clinton or Senator Obama, without the support of dedicated conservatives, whose convictions, creativity and energy have been indispensible to the success our party has had over the last quarter century. Many of you have disagreed strongly with some positions I have taken in recent years. I understand that. I might not agree with it, but I respect it for the principled position it is. And it is my sincere hope that even if you believe I have occasionally erred in my reasoning as a fellow conservative, you will still allow that I have, in many ways important to all of us, maintained the record of a conservative. Further, I hope you will grant that I have defended many positions we share just as ardently as I have made my case for positions that have provoked your opposition. If not, thank you for this opportunity to make my case today."
More ...: Morrissey writes: "McCain sounds energized and is commanding the room. It's one of his better speeches, and he's hitting all the right notes for the crowd. A lot of them are his supporters, but Mitt's backers easily outnumbered those at CPAC. At the least, his opponents are giving him a chance to convince them."
More ...: Erik at RedState.com likes what he heard too, calling it the "best speech" McCain has given this campaign season: "He pledged to hold the line on taxes. He said he will cut the corporate tax rate and make the Bush tax cuts permanent. He gave a great contrast between himself and Hillary and Obama. It was an unapologetic defense of the war, defense of low taxes, defense of life, defense of liberty, and defense of the American way as we know it.
"John McCain is the nominee and he sounded both Presidential and conservative. Conservatives may not have gotten the whole loaf of bread they wanted, but they know where McCain stands, and he's willing to fight on grounds the Democrats would abdicate to the socialists within and terrorists without."
2:43 PM ET | 02- 7-2008 | permalink
