In the wake of Mitt Romney?s sudden withdrawal from the Republican presidential race, John McCain has a new political best friend in his task of winning over dismayed and hostile party conservatives. Her name is Hillary Clinton.
As attendees bearing Romney signs filed out of the Conservative Political Action Conference here, their comments made clear the one factor that may bring them over to McCain is their bitter opposition to the former first lady.
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They loudly applauded former House Majority Leader Dick Armey?s comment that the dumbest thing he?d ever heard was vitriolic right-winger Ann Coulter?s vow to vote for Clinton if McCain was nominated.
Beyond the personal GOP animosity toward Clinton, a consensus of the latest public-opinion polls suggests why these Republican conservatives are rooting for her in her close Democratic nomination fight with Barack Obama. In six major polls, McCain leads Clinton in four and is tied in one other, and Obama leads him in all but one.
The Arizona maverick, whose history of straying off the conservative reservation has left an army of bitter naysayers and reluctant nose-holders, has depended heavily on others in his second presidential bid, and the conservative hatred of Clinton is not the first illustration.
In moving to the brink of nomination this time around, his previous political new best friend was former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, whose strong support among Christian evangelists seriously undercut Romney?s effort to sell his rebirth as a conservative. McCain owed a lot to the Romney-Huckabee split in piling up his lead in convention delegates that finally persuaded Romney to withdraw.
Even with the Republican animosity toward Clinton, McCain has his work cut out for him persuading the conservative faithful to swallow hard and vote for him. For all of McCain?s self-description as the straight-talk candidate, strong questions remained among attendees of the major conservative conference about the promises he made here in an unusually conciliatory speech.
Bonnie Borris of Beverly Hills, Calif., said on leaving: “I thought he did a very nice job, but he?s not a conservative. He?s saying a lot of things to impress us. He says he?s not going to raise taxes, but what?s going to happen with the global warming issue? You think that?s not going to raise taxes? Of course he is going to raise taxes.”
Nevertheless, she said, “I think he?s the only dog in the fight now. I?ll probably have to vote for him.” She was particularly bitter toward Huckabee. “I think he caused all the problems,” she said. “I?d like to shoot Huckabee. He ought to be waterboarded.”
Outside the ballroom, Michael McLaughlin, of McLean, Va., wearing a T-shirt reading “McCain = Amnesty,” said not even the possibility of a McCain-Clinton general election contest would persuade him to vote for McCain, despite his assurances that he now favors closing the borders before considering a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.
“I will leave the top of the ticket blank,” McLaughlin said firmly. “I will continue to vote the straight Republican ticket except for the office of president.” He said he refused to be “complicit” in bringing about any form of “amnesty.”
As for McCain?s famous “straight talk,” McLaughlin said: “He says, ?I will keep my promises.? Yes, I believe him. He?s promised he?d grant amnesty. He tried it in 2006 and he tried it again in 2007.” In the 2008 election, he said, “my concern is that his nomination will take immigration off the table in the general election, because he holds the same exact position as Obama or Hillary in this particular area.”
Also, he said, “I?m concerned about creating an expectation in other nations, especially Mexico and Latin America, that now that he has the nomination, we will see a tidal wave of illegal immigration so they can get here before amnesty is passed.”
This conservative?s plan not to vote for president mirrors a risk that many like-minded voters will simply stay home Nov. 4. McCain has to hope that such an urge will be overcome in the end by the prospect of what they dread most ? a President Hillary Clinton, if she indeed is the Democratic nominee.
Jules Witcover, a Baltimore Examiner columnist, is syndicated by Tribune Media Services. He has covered national affairs from Washington for more than 50 years and is the author of 11 books, and co-author of five others, on American politics and history.
