McCain invited Mitt Romney, Florida Governor Charlie Crist, and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal to a Memorial Day get together this weekend. The Dean of the Washington Press Corp, David Broder, writes in his column about the VP speculation for the Sunday Post.
Yesterday, Mitt Romney officially endorsed John McCain for president and released his delegates.
His delegates are now free to back the nominee (whomever that may be) if they choose.
Okay, I know, I know. I can hear social conservatives across the country groaning about the likelihood of a McCain nomination.
On the plus side, the strong possibility that McCain will be nominated means that he has some fence-mending to do with conservatives.
For example, McCain spoke at CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) yesterday assuring the audience of his conservative credentials. He also apologized for not attending last year.
McCain also sent a letter to the Federalist Society assuring them that he will only nominate judges who will interpret the Constitution not create law.
Going on record about conservative policies will help McCain but the real test will be to see what happens in the next few primaries. Will Romney conservatives think McCain is the better candidate or will they throw their support behind Huckabee?
If Huckabee left the presidential race, I predicted that Huckabee voters would be more likely to give their votes to Romney than McCain. However, Romney's announcement that he's putting his campaign on hold throws a monkey wrench in the works.
Many, many conservatives don't like McCain. McCain appeals strongly to independents, undecideds and even liberals. The press likes him.
I think this is one of his problems.
When liberals and the press have nice things to say about you and your record, conservatives take a few steps back and prepare to run in the other direction.
Huckabee said that he would vote for McCain should it come to that. This may sway some Huckabee supporters to support McCain down the road should he win the nomination.
Personally, Hillary and Barack are what we're working against. I disagree with those Republicans who are saying they will campaign for Hillary or Obama if McCain wins the nomination. McCain may not be our ideal but another Hillary or Barack Obama he is not.
Well, we walked away yesterday with no more a presumptive Republican nominee than we had on Monday.
Huckabee had a good showing in Southern states. Romney failed to capture the delegates he needed to really declare a lead but even McCain didn't capture enough to claim the title of presumptive nominee.
In states where McCain won, polling is showing that conservative, pro-family, pro-life voters weren't jumping on his bandwagon. I believe that these voters likely voted for Huckabee with some going to Romney but I haven't finished digging through published polling reports.
If, and this is a big if, all three candidates stick it out to August, we will find a three way battle on our hands. However, if Huckabee bows out at some point, I predict that a vast majority of Huckabee supporters will throw their hat into Romney's ring. Pro-life, pro-family voters would have less of a problem with a Mormon in the White House than with someone who did not share their values. The press has repeatedly focused on the issue of whether these voters could support a Mormon but the press has it wrong. Pro-life, pro-family voters could support a Mormon if he shares their values. After Huckabee, Romney comes closest to traditional pro-life, pro-family beliefs consistent with conservative Catholics and Evangelical Christians.
As I've mentioned in a previous post, does Romney's late pro-life conversion bother me? A little, but as with all converts in the pro-life movement, there had to be a defining moment for that conversion to occur. Romney says that he has had that moment and he has given no cause since to doubt his sincerity.
McCain's big problems with pro-life, pro-family voters have been embryonic stem cell research, which he still supports, and campaign finance reform, which hindered free speech rights. This bloc of voters takes both of these issues very seriously so it will be difficult for McCain to pull votes from this group. However, that said, if McCain were the nominee, many of these voters would vote for him over Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. McCain has promised to nominate judges who are in the mold of Scalia, Thomas and Alito. Pro-life, pro-family voters would take him at his word.
Obama pretty much cleaned Clinton's clock in some states. These two candidates are still so close in the number of delgates that neither can claim to be the presumptive nominee.
NOW's sniping at Obama aside, the Clinton campaign is running short of major supporters. This does not help her campaign.
Last night's CNN/Politico debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, allowed moderators another opportunity to quiz the candidates about several issues including Supreme Court appointments. Anderson Cooper specifically asked the candidates what their opinion was of Reagan appointee, Sandra Day O'Connor. Justice O'Connor turned out to be far from the strict constructionist Reagan and others thought her to be. She repeatedly voted to uphold abortion on demand in her later years on the Court.
This comes straight from the CNN Transcript where Anderson Cooper asks:
This one goes to Governor Huckabee. On July 6, 1981, which is actually Nancy Reagan's birthday, Ronald Reagan wrote in his diary about Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. And the Reagan Library has graciously allowed us to actually have the original Reagan diary right here on the desk. I'm a little too nervous to actually even touch it, but that is the Ronald Reagan's original diary.
And in it, he wrote by his hand, he said, "Called Judge O'Connor in Arizona and told her she was my nominee for Supreme Court. Already the flak is starting, and from my own supporters. Right-to-life people say she's pro-abortion. She declares abortion is personally repugnant to her. I think she'll make a good justice."
That's Ronald Reagan's words from his own book. Governor Huckabee, was she the right choice?
HUCKABEE: History will have to determine that, and I'm not going to come to the Reagan Library and say anything about Ronald Reagan's decisions. I'm not that stupid. If I was, I'd have no business being president.
I think we need to talk about why the issue of right-to-life is important. For many of us, this is not a political issue; this is an issue of principle and conviction. And it goes to the heart of who we are as a country.
If we value each other as human beings and believe that everybody has equal worth, and that that intrinsic value is not affected by net worth, or ancestry, or last name, or job description, or ability, or disability, then the issue of the sanctity of human life is far bigger than just being anti-abortion.
It's about being pro-life and exercising that deep conviction held by our founding fathers that all of us are equal and no one is more equal than another, recognizing that once we ever decide that some people are more equal or less equal than others, then we start moving that line, and it may include us some day.
And that's why for many of us -- and me included. Let me be very clear: I'm pro-life. I value every human being. And I would always make every decision always on the side of life every time I could, without equivocation.
COOPER: Yes or no, Congressman Paul, was Sandra Day O'Connor the right choice? PAUL: I wouldn't have appointed her, because I would have looked for somebody that I would have seen as a much stricter constitutionalist.
COOPER: Senator McCain?
MCCAIN: I'm proud of Sandra Day O'Connor as a fellow Arizonan. And my heart goes out to her family in that situation that they have today. And I'm proud of her.
The judges I would appoint are along the lines of Justices Roberts and Alito, who have a proven record of strict interpretation of the Constitution of the United States of America. I'm not going to second-guess President Reagan.
COOPER: Governor Romney? ROMNEY: I would approve justices -- I would have favored justices like Roberts and Alito, Scalia and Thomas. I like justices that follow the Constitution, do not make law from the bench. I would have much rather had a justice of that nature.
COOPER: We're going to pause for a quick commercial break. The debate continues when we return.
Christianity Today posted a piece about Mitt Romney and how Mormonism is interpreted by Evangelical Christians.
Will it affect our vote?
Could I vote for Mitt Romney?
I mean I really like Mike Huckabee, who is--without a doubt--pro-life, and John McCain, who has had a solid voting record on many pro-life issues as well. But could I vote for Romney?
Well, yeah, I could.
Certainly over Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton or Rudy Giuliani.
Do his supposed flip-flops bother me? Again, yeah, but two things are important to remember here. First, people generally move from being "pro-choice" to pro-life-- what I distrust are people [read: politicians] who claim to be pro-life and then become "pro-choice." Two, I feel I can take Romney at his word and that he will listen to pro-life advisors and protect human life as he has promised to do. I'm willing to take his pro-life conversion at face-value.
Can I vote for a Mormon?
Uh, again, yeah. I have no qualms voting for a man who may not believe as I do but believes with conviction. He doesn't cherry-pick what of his faith he will do or not do. If I remember correctly, Mormons do not have a definitive church statement regarding abortion in the early stages of pregnancy. However, many are pro-life because their church teaches respect for human life. I was privileged to work with a couple of Mormons who were on staff with National Right to Life and some who worked with NRLC state affiliates. Their faith gives them strength and intensity on these issues. If Romney's conversion is genuine-- and I believe it is-- we could expect great things from him.
Today, the Romney campaign announced the addition of nine lawyers to his Romney for President Advisory Committee on the Constitution and the Courts. These lawyers were all members of Lawyers for Thompson and will now join the Romney Presidential campaign as advisors.
According to the press release, the advisory committee is, "chaired by Professor Douglas W. Kmiec, former constitutional legal counsel to President Ronald Reagan, [Kmiec] has been advising Governor Romney on the important legal issues confronting the country today."
Thompson supporters aren't running to any particular candidate but this move is significant and may be indicative of a bigger wave that will move to Romney.
Yesterday's San Francisco Chronicle gives a decent summary of the Republican presidential candidates' stands on abortion. Romney, Giuliani, McCain, Huckabee and Paul are all mentioned.
