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Divorcing John McCain From His Base |
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Did you know that John McCain only got 73% of the vote in the Pennsylvania primary?
The media is barely mentioning it. The blogs have laughed at it, but haven’t really dove in. But it might be really important.
Think about it. Running virtually unopposed, the Republican presumptive nominee somehow didn’t get 27% of the voters. What’s more amazing, this 27% - that’s 220,000 people - bothered to drive to their polling place and cast their vote for someone who could not ever hope to win the nomination, all to thumb their nose at John McCain.
McCain has been the only candidate in the Republican race for almost a full two months, yet 16% of this group voted for Ron Paul and 11% voted for Mike Huckabee!
These statistics should perk up the ears of Democrats. Even with ample time to consolidate the base - and with ample flip flopping on the issues - John McCain still can’t get almost a third of the Republican party in Pennsylvania to board the “straight talk” express. And there is reason to think those voters might never get on the bus.
Ron Paul voters, driven by anti-war and anti-federal reserve sentiment, will never agree with McCain’s hawkish foreign policy or schizophrenic economics. Huckabee voters will never believe a divorcee who’s admittedly shy about his faith is the spiritual conservative they’ve been waiting for. These people might vote for Democrats in November, or they might at least stay home.
But only if we make them.
You see, McCain’s a smooth talker, and people tend to believe what he says. (For the life of me, I can’t figure out why.) Given enough time and enough party surrogates and conservative media backing him, John McCain can solidify the Republican base, at least to some significant extent.
We should make sure this doesn’t happen.
In 2004, Ralph Nader was funded by wealthy Republican donors to try and sabotage John Kerry’s candidacy. There’s no reason we can’t sabotage McCain’s.
I’m not saying large donations to Bob Barr or any other third party candidate is quite the way to go. Ron Paul supporters, for example, aren’t lying down yet - they will be a presence at the Republican convention. Actions as simple as making sure the candidacies of Paul and Huckabee aren’t forgotten in the media and in American society might be enough. Perhaps Democrats (especially those that go on TV) could bring up Ron Paul at every turn, making sure people remember he’s still in the race. Maybe they could constantly compare McCain’s faith to Huckabee’s. Whatever it is, I do feel Democrats should be thinking about a coordinated campaign of some sort.
So, I’m open to suggestions: How can Democrats make sure McCain doesn’t get this 27% to vote for him?
(cross posted at MyDD)
I agree that this is noteworthy. I continue to believe that McCain is not a great candidate–I saw him recently with Chris Matthews and it was a snoozefest. It’s hard to get real excited about McCain–in contrast to Obama, who of course generates a lot of excitement
Funny everyone loves a good liar since Bill Clinton elected potus 1992. The big lie has continued for twenty years, the very same voters lied to decades ago, plus new generation of kids being lied to again, fact you liked MCCain sabotage George Bush, prior to his re-entry in presidential bid, which btw, you interfered and gave him to us, which wasn’t right, but libs living in fictional world believe they have the right to do anything and not being held culpable for anything. it’s always someone else’s fault. Tired of it, except your short comings your not exemplary either, quit trying to convince others your pure, I know for over 30 plus years you haven’t been.
A lot of bold statements with no evidence to back them up. Big lie? You sound like the standard jaded conservative who forgot to believe in others around him. I’m sorry the world you live in is so black and white and that you’re disappointed by everyone. Not all liberals skirt responsibility, that tactic is best displayed by the current government administration. Maybe liberals try things and may try to skirt the responsibility but at minimum they feel enough guilt over the situation to at least address it. The current powers that be don’t feel that when they fail to claim responsibility that they did anything wrong. All it comes down to is your preference as to a politician’s honesty and willingness to admit wrong: both parties have their shortcomings.
Frankly the last two sentences of your post don’t even really make sense and you should probably check what you write for flow and logic. Commas are not cure-alls.