February 14, 2008
As former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum noted in an op-ed published on Valentine’s Day, the “conservative jury is still out on backing McCain,” as evidenced by the six primary elections held in Kansas, Louisiana, Washington State, Maryland, D.C. and Virginia in the past week. http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20080214_The_Elephant_in_the_Room__The_conservative_jury_is_still_out_on_backing_McCain.html
Although the GOP party establishment wants desperately to crown McCain as the 2008 Presidential nominee, his electoral weaknesses are terrifyingly evident. In last Saturday’s three elections, he had been favored to win by huge margins leading into the races, but the outcomes were altogether different.
Mike Huckabee crushed McCain in Kansas’s caucuses, winning 60% of the vote last Saturday, while McCain won only 24% in that rock-ribbed Republican state. In Louisiana, a state trending increasingly Republican, Huckabee narrowly defeated McCain, despite McCain receiving effusive endorsements from every establishment Republican possible. The total GOP vote in Louisiana was an embarrassing less than half of the Democratic vote.
McCain’s campaign claimed “victory” in the Washington state caucuses by 260 votes out of 17,000 cast, but the count was abruptly (and perhaps illegally) ended at 87% of the vote, with more than 1,700 caucus votes uncounted, many from conservative rural areas. The Huckabee campaign filed an official protest with the Republican National Committee, because the last 13% of the vote was never counted, very likely because Huckabee would have scored an embarrassing sweep of the Arizona senator on Saturday’s contests.
Moving forward to the “Potomac Primaries” where the establishment holds more sway, frantic last-minute pushing and shoving of Republicans to turn out for McCain didn’t really help, either. In Virginia, a state which has voted for every Republican presidential candidate in the past ten elections, McCain did beat Huckabee, but by only 9 points, after leading the race by 33 points just four days earlier. The total Virginia GOP turnout was less than half the Democratic turnout, with votes totals reported as follows:
Virginia:
Obama 623,141 votes Hillary 347,252 McCain 244,135
And according to news reports, over 14 million voters have participated in the Democratic primaries, with fewer than 9 million in the GOP primaries — a stunningly ominous sign for the November general election.
Even the liberal Washington Post admitted that McCain “lost conservatives in Virginia, as he has across the South and parts of the Midwest.” http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/12/AR2008021201902.html
On Valentine’s Day, the Washington Post wrote about how former Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating, and current Texas Governor Rick Perry, are trying to pressure Mike Huckabee into quitting the presidential campaign, even though they know the GOP convention can select whichever candidate the delegates want, regardless of McCain’s winning of blue states which the Democrats will sweep in November.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080214/NATION/437382070/0/FRONTPAGE
Keating, who never bothered to run for the U.S. Senate, and never ran for President although some Republicans asked him to on numerous occasions in the past, has become a white-haired Washington lobbyist for the American Council of Life Insurers. Instead of supporting those of us who want to find a new nominee, or at minimum, force McCain into serious concessions to conservatives, Keating has tried to bully Huckabee out of the race right after beating McCain in two primaries, and closely challenging him in two more.
Rick Perry, a George W. Bush spear-carrier in Texas, who won the Governorship by default when Bush was elected President, endorsed early the notorious RINO Rudy Giuliani, until he went down to early and decisive defeat. Opportunistic Rick then decided to rain on Huckabee’s parade, in order to butter up Senator John McNasty.
The rank-and-file rejection of John McCain as nominee of the Party of Ronald Reagan is clear. We MUST adhere to our conservative principles, even as our alleged “leaders” such as Keating and Perry succumb once again to the lure of money and power. Keep the 2008 GOP convention open, and for the good of our nation, let’s select a conservative nominee who has a chance of rallying the Republican base, and America, to beat Barack Obama, who will surely crush Senator McDole in November!© Patriot PAC, Inc.
