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Brownback courting right for Sen. McCain |
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Written by By Alexander Bolton | Posted: 02/06/08 07:48 PM [ET]
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After quietly bowing out of the presidential race last fall, Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) launched an aggressive effort to court socially conservative leaders who have expressed skepticism about the candidacy of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).
After quietly bowing out of the presidential race last fall, Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) launched an aggressive effort to court socially conservative leaders who have expressed skepticism about the candidacy of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).
Brownback is heading McCain’s outreach to Catholic voters and is also one of McCain’s chief advisers on judicial nominations, helping to organize meetings between the candidate and national social conservative leaders. Brownback has met with Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, and Father Frank Pavone, a leader in the anti-abortion rights movement, to enlist their support.
On Thursday, Brownback will attend Conservative Political Action Conference, an annual convention of conservative activists in Washington, to tout McCain. He will then travel home to persuade voters to support McCain in the Kansas caucus scheduled for Saturday.
Brownback’s efforts come at a critical time for McCain because political analysts have raised questions about the Arizona senator’s rocky relationship with some high-profile conservatives.
Dr. James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, and one of the most prominent Christian leaders active in conservative politics, has said he would not vote for McCain “under any circumstances.” Conservative radio celebrity Rush Limbaugh has also rejected McCain and conservative pundit Ann Coulter has even pledged to campaign for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) if McCain becomes the GOP nominee.
McCain firmly established his status as Republican frontrunner Tuesday by winning nine states, including the biggest prizes of the day: California, New York and Illinois. But McCain’s popularity among rock-ribbed Republicans remains in question. Seven of the nine states he carried vote reliably Democratic in presidential elections. Oklahoma and Arizona are the only states in McCain’s Tuesday win column that vote consistently for Republicans.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) did significantly better in the Southern states that make up the GOP’s powerbase. He won Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee.
Brownback said he first considered endorsing Huckabee.
“My heart was more with Huckabee because the social issues are clearly a strong agenda item with him,” said Brownback in an interview. “But he didn’t have the rest of the package and I didn’t think he could build out to include economic conservatives.
He’s got a 24-year pro-life voting record,” said Brownback of his colleague. “[ Former Massachusetts Gov.] Romney was pro-choice.
“McCain is a hard-rock fiscal conservative — no one is close to him on fiscal conservatism,” he said.
The Kansas senator acknowledges that McCain has a “mixed” record on “economic growth issues,” an allusion to McCain’s opposition to President Bush’s 2001 and 2003 tax cut proposals, but says that McCain’s rebellion on those tax cuts stemmed from his strong sense of fiscal responsibility.
Ultimately, Brownback argues, social conservatives should vote for McCain because he is electable and they can rely on him to appoint conservative justices to the Supreme Court.
“The most important reason to win the presidency is so we don’t lose ground on the Supreme Court,” said Brownback, who fears a November victory by Clinton or Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) would shift the court’s ideological balance to the left.
Brownback’s greatest political contribution to McCain may be his influence among Catholic voters, an important swing constituency that is expected to figure prominently in both parties’ general election strategies.
Brownback sent nine volunteers to Florida before the Jan. 29 primary to reach out to Catholic voters on McCain’s behalf.
Those operatives in turn built up a 200-member volunteer network and helped McCain reverse his disappointing performance among Catholics in Michigan.
In Michigan, Romney beat McCain by five points among Catholics who regularly attend church, according to exit polls.
In Florida, McCain beat Romney 37 percent to 31 in this demographic.
This week, Brownback authored an op-ed in the National Catholic Register defending McCain’s record on abortion. In an essay titled “Pro-Lifers Can Trust McCain,” Brownback responded to a columnist’s criticism of McCain.
“John McCain is not pro-life out of convenience, but based on principle,” he wrote.
Brownback’s support has also helped reassure conservatives wary of McCain’s support for stem-cell research.
Brownback believes such research will die down as a political issue because technical advances have enabled researchers to work on stem cells without destroying embryos.
Following his exit from the race last October, speculation mounted that Brownback would back New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R).
Two dozen reporters staked out Brownback’s Senate office when he met with Giuliani to discuss a possible endorsement.
“It was the most press I ever got as a presidential candidate, except the thing was I had left the field by then,” said Brownback.
Eventually, Brownback settled on McCain, with whom he had grown close after years of working together on the Senate Commerce Committee.
Brownback’s partnership with McCain has prompted some political observers to wonder whether Brownback may be hoping to be named to the Republican ticket this summer.
“If it comes up, I will certainly look at it,” he said. “But people speculate about that much earlier than anyone [on the campaign] is thinking about it. I think that speculation is way too early.” |
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