Republican

McCain Gains from Clinton-Obama Feud

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Campaign Sniping Has More Democrats Saying They’ll Vote McCain If Their Candidate Loses:

Polls now show words from both camps are causing serious damage. An increasing number of Clinton supporters say they would not vote for Obama in November and vice versa.

According to a new Franklin & Marshall College poll of Pennsylvania voters, only 53 percent of Clinton backers say they’ll vote for Obama should he become the nominee. Nineteen percent say they’ll vote for McCain and 13 percent say they won’t vote, the poll found.

The poll said that 60 percent of Obama backers said they would go for Clinton should she win the nomination, with 20 percent opting for McCain, and 3 percent saying they wouldn’t vote at all.

That’s what ABC News found in talking to voters on the street.

“I think I’d have to vote for McCain,” Laura Courson, New York woman who supports Clinton told ABC News, when asked what she would do if her candidate were not the Democrats’ nominee.

“I’d have a hard time voting for Hillary Clinton in this election … I might go for a third party candidate,” said Kevin Mills, a Los Angeles man who supports Obama.

The early months of the campaign were reasonably cordial. But as the race has gone on and on, it has also grown nastier.

The Ticket for McCain

Parker V 1 Comment

From Quin Hillyer:

Mitt Romney: By now, Romney needs no introduction. On paper, he is absolutely top-notch. His resume is a wonder to behold. His competence is readily apparent to any voter. And most Reaganite conservatives seem to accept him, even if some aren’t enthusiastic about him, yet he does not have a hard edge that turns off independents. He’s a palpably decent man with a wonderful family. On the other hand, he had every advantage this primary season, and just couldn’t make it work. He never quite seems to “connect” with a majority of voters. Plus, McCain seems to have developed a personal dislike for him, and McCain is not good at hiding such sentiments. Voters would pick up on that, and it would be awkward.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty: Right now the betting favorite, Pawlenty seems to be an ideal choice. Minnesota is an incredibly important target for Republicans, as it keeps creeping ever closer to voting for a GOP presidential candidate, and as the upper Midwest as a whole (including Iowa and Wisconsin) is probably the largest contiguous swath of 50-50 battleground states in the country. Popular with Evangelicals and by most (but not all) lights a solid fiscal conservative as well, Pawlenty seems able to keep conservatives happy while presenting a friendly persona. On the downside, though, he won both of his races for governor with less than 50 percent of the vote; he has no significant experience outside of politics, and there is something about him on TV that seems a bit too lightweight.

Former House Budget Committee Chairman John Kasich: There is no doubt that Kasich has an appealing and approachable personality, and political skills aplenty. He represented Ohio for eight terms in the House — and of course, Ohio has been a linchpin for Republican victories for years, but now has turned into a seriously uphill battle for the GOP. Any local boy who can help keep that state in the Republican column would be worth his weight in platinum — plus, Kasich adds working-class Pennsylvania roots as well. A true fiscal conservative, Kasich received many plaudits for his part in helping balance the federal budget for the first time in more than three decades. On the down side, he often seemed too eager to grab the credit when the more difficult legislative grunt work was done by the Appropriations Committee and the Ways & Means Committee rather than by Kasich’s Budgeteers. He also lacks significant non-political experience, and he can come across as a bit hyperactive, which might exacerbate rather than modulate McCain’s intensity.

Rob Portman: His twelve years as a highly regarded U.S. House Member from Ohio preceded service as President George W. Bush’s Trade Representative and then as his Budget Director. Everywhere he goes, he seems to impress people with his intelligence, his earnestness, and his bearing. He immediately gives forth an air of (that overused word) gravitas, and he seems to be liked and respected by people across the entire ideological spectrum. Then again, he might be too perfect, too preppy, too deeply connected to the Bush family that has always been his biggest political booster from the time he served as associate White House counsel under the elder Bush. But is he a true Reaganite? It’s not 100 percent clear. Most people seem to think so, and he certainly would come across as a classy addition to anybody’s ticket.

Chris Cox: The best choice, bar none. This thoughtful and reform-minded chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission made his name for 16 years as the brainiest and perhaps most principled Reaganite conservative in Congress, as well as one of the best on TV. In a brilliant column two weeks ago at this site, Lisa Fabrizio laid out the full argument in Cox’s favor. Other columnists have also written that he would make a good Veep choice, among them Lisa Schiffren of National Review Online, Jack Kelly of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Tom Bevan of Real Clear Politics, and the reviewer for Exurbanleague.com, which is the top-ranked conservative blog in McCain’s home state of Arizona. Ditto for an article yesterday in the Financial Times and a column yesterday by John Gizzi of Human Events.

Cox is well thought of by just about every conservative columnist around, and respected by the David Broder institutionalists for his brains, diligence, and decency. He could probably help at least a little in Minnesota, where he grew up, and of course he is a favorite of the Californians he represented in Congress. Of great significance, perhaps, McCain himself was asked two Fridays ago at a bloggers’ briefing which states he thought he might be able to move from the Democratic to the Republican column, and his first answer, the one he focused most on, was California. And McCain is sure to appreciate Cox’s grit in coming back from a horrendous off-road vehicle accident three decades ago that left him partially paralyzed for a while.

Giuliani: Mafia Film Buff, Mob Buster

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Rudy Giuliani clearly has a love/hate thing when it comes to the Mafia: celebrates the fictional characters, incarcerates the felonious ones, keeps mum about those in his own family tree – so says the Associated Press. More:

The former federal prosecutor is both film buff and mob buster, still breaking out his raspy Don Corleone impression and quoting lines from “The Godfather” more than two decades after busting up the New York mob’s ruling hierarchy.

But Giuliani spent a lot more time — he once estimated 4,000 hours — listening to the bugged conversations of real Mafiosi than channeling Marlon Brando’s chipmunk-cheeked boss. And long before anyone heard of Tony Soprano (yes, Rudy’s a fan), Giuliani was jailing “Fat Tony” Salerno after the 1986 “Commission” trial.

Giuliani’s mob fascination — including a reported link in his own family — has already surfaced during the presidential campaign, although few expect much political fallout from the occasional “Godfather” parody. But it provides a glimpse into his career path from prosecutor to mayor to presidential candidate.

When he arrived as U.S. attorney in 1983, the chance to take on the mob was an offer Giuliani could not refuse.

While many Italian-American public figures avoided the word “Mafia,” saying it reinforced stereotypes, Giuliani used it repeatedly at news conferences. “By using the word Mafia correctly,” he insisted, “you actually help to end the unfair stereotype.”