Ron Paul Hopes to Crash McCain's Party
McCain's Nomination Certain, but He Faces Pressure on the Flanks of His
Party
By MARCUS BARAM
May 13, 2008 —
Sen. John McCain, taking a victory lap as the presumptive Republican
nominee, happily poked fun
at his only remaining opponent.
Asked during an appearance on "The Daily Show" last week which of the two
Democratic nominees
he preferred to run against in the general election, McCain quipped, "Ron
Paul."
But Paul might get the last laugh during McCain's coronation at the
party's convention in early
September.
McCain's nomination may be certain, but he finds himself pressured by
different wings of the
conservative movement -- from the libertarians and the anti-war activists,
to social
conservatives and evangelical voters.
In recent primaries, as many as 25 percent of Republican voters chose a
different candidate,
with many pulling levers for Paul and former GOP candidate Mike Huckabee,
who snagged 27
percent of the vote in the Pennsylvania primary.
A similar phenomenon also occurred in 2000, when 33 percent of Republicans
voted against Bush
in the Colorado primary though Bush was the presumed nominee by then.
Paul's grass-roots movement of enthusiastic supporters is reportedly
planning a minirebellion
at the convention to push its anti-war, anti-tax agenda.
In state conventions in Maine and Nevada, Paul's forces battled McCain's
delegates to the
brink. While they won't have the muscle to challenged McCain in the
national convention, they
can be an annoying sideshow when the spotlight is supposed to be solely on
the candidate.
Huckabee has endorsed McCain, but some of his evangelical supporters
remain skeptical about
McCain's claim to be a social conservative.
Virginia conservative Michael Farris, the chancellor of Patrick Henry
College, reportedly
promoted an Obama presidency as a biblical punishment for Republican sins,
which would allow
the party to regroup and come back under the leadership of Huckabee in
2012. Farris denied that
he ever suggested such a thing during an interview with ABCNEWS.com.
And former GOP Rep. Bob Barr, who won acclaim in conservative circles for
leading the drive to
impeach President Clinton, just announced his run for the presidency on
the Libertarian Party
ticket.
The party commands few votes, but Barr has the potential to draw away
Republican voters and be
a spoiler in battleground states as Ralph Nader was accused of doing to
Democrats in the 2000
election.
Though McCain's nomination at the convention is assured, it may not be a
love fest and that
concerns Republicans who are warily eying a resurgent Democratic Party
that has galvanized
millions of new voters.
"What's happening with Ron Paul cannot be ignored by John McCain," said
Greg Mueller, a
Republican consultant not affiliated with any campaign.
"You need every vote, whether it's a social conservative, a tax
conservative or a national
defense conservative. Like the social conservatives, if that vote had been
ignored, George Bush
would not have made it in 2000. & They have to be excited, energized to
get other people to vote."
A spokesman for the McCain campaign emailed: "We're very pleased by the
overwhelming support
that John McCain is receiving from all levels of the Republican Party,
something that has not
been seen after other open primaries in the recent past, and are now
mobilizing them towards
the convention and the get out the vote operation in the general election
in November."
The chairman of the Republican National Committee, Mike Duncan, had a
private meeting with Paul
in April to discuss the future of the party but no decision has been made
yet on speaking roles
at the convention, according to an RNC official.
Virginia conservative Farris says the lack of enthusiasm among some social
conservative leaders
should worry McCain.
"He's not gone out of his way to win over people concerned about his
record," he said. "If he
doesn't, he's asking for more dissension. He needs to solidify that base.
If he dampens the
enthusiasm of even a small percentage, in a close election that could be
crucial."
Farris notes that Republican voters need positive reasons to vote for
their candidate.
"Unfortunately, it's coming down to whether you like [Democratic Sen.
Barack] Obama or not. We
can't win if it's just based on negative reasons not to vote for the
opposing candidate."
Farris also denied a story by syndicated columnist Robert Novak reporting
that he promoted an
Obama candidacy as a biblical justification.
"I've never said or heard such a thing," he said, noting that he probably
will vote for McCain.
"I don't talk in terms of Old Testament plagues. One thing we learn is
that they're undesirable
so the fact that I would desire something like that doesn't make sense."
Huckabee posted a denial on his political action committee's Web site,
reiterating his support
for McCain and stating, "The nonsense that I want Obama to win this year
so I can run in 2012
is absurd. I love my country more than my own ambition."
As for Paul, although he only has collected 19 delegates so far compared
to McCain's 1,413, he
plans on bringing them to the convention and stressing his limited
government agenda, which
includes abolishing the Federal Reserve and the Internal Revenue Service.
Paul is also insisting on a speaking opportunity at the convention, which
the GOP has yet to offer.
As for Barr, his spokesman says that the Libertarian Party typically
attracts more voters from
the Republican side.
"Any third party can be a potential spoiler," Barr spokesman Andrew Davis
says. "Ross Perot did
it in 1992. Our party competes just like any other party does."
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