Moby
12-17-2007, 03:22 PM
I think is South Carolina would have stayed away from Rove and voted for a conservative in the 2000 primary that McCain would have made a good President. Maybe not one of the top 2 or 3 all time but certainly better then most.
Unfortunately I think that his time has past. If he would have won in 2000 we would have a much better country and world today but I just think he's too late.
http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=E4894DE2-3048-5C12-0015E6F5CDD753BB
By: Mike Allen and Jonathan Martin
December 17, 2007 08:48 AM EST
Sen. Joseph Lieberman (Conn.), who was on the national Democratic ticket in 2000, will cross the aisle to endorse Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) Monday, Republican sources said.
The two will appear together on Fox News on Monday, then at an 8 a.m. town hall meeting in Hillsborough, N.H. They will talk with reporters after the meeting. McCain is also scheduled to appear on NBC's "Today" program.
The move, which will help cultivate McCain's moderate status, is an effort to draw attention to the McCain campaign, which needs a splash. Otherwise, it does not make sense for McCain because it will only remind core Republicans why they distrust him.
The endorsement came as one of McCain’s rivals for independent voters — Rudy Giuliani — began to pull back in New Hampshire and refocus his energy and resources in Florida and other states with later contests.
Noting Liberman’s appeal among unaffiliated voters in the 2004 Democratic primary, a top McCain aide said the Connecticut senator's backing "gives credence to, and more horsepower behind, our 'Independents for McCain' effort in New Hampshire and nationally."
Independents are an important factor in New Hampshire, and McCain, who won the state in 2000, is now depending on them.
The announcement looks like an effort to stem a stream of independents moving to Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.)
For McCain, the good news is coming in threes. The announcement follows endorsements of McCain on Sunday by the Des Moines Register and the Boston Globe.
William Kristol of the The Weekly Standard was the first to post the news, which rocketed through campaign circles Sunday afternoon.
Lieberman is an independent who caucuses with Democrats.
While Lieberman and the liberal-leaning Boston Globe’s endorsement may help boost McCain among independents who can vote in the New Hampshire GOP primary, he is counting on the more critical support of the conservative Union Leader to help him among the Republican base in the Granite State.
He’s currently airing an ad there that touts the support from the Manchester-based daily.
McCain is also being helped in the state by Giuliani’s reduced hopes for a victory there. Despite airing TV ads in New Hampshire for over a month and stepping up his appearances there, the former New York mayor’s poll numbers have been static or even slipped some.
Saturday, Giuliani made a symbolic statement that he and his campaign think their path to victory lies not in the early January snows of New Hampshire but in sunny Florida, which holds its primary in late January.
It was in Tampa — not Manchester — where Giuliani chose to give a much-heralded (if newsless) speech that was widely seen as an attempt to jumpstart a campaign that has slumped nationally recently after a spate of bad press.
Underscoring his decision to hold the speech in Florida, Giuliani will significantly cut back on his ad campaign in New Hampshire. The Nashua Telegraph reported today that this week Giuliani is cutting his media buy in half on the pricey Boston TV stations that reach across the border.
A top Giuliani aide told Politico that the decision was made to retain flexibility in a fluid race, acknowledging that the uncertainty of those early races has given them the confidence to target Florida as a springboard.
“An important objective throughout has been to keep the race wide open until February 5,” said this source. “With the increased spending and negativity of Gov. Romney’s campaign, the rise of Gov. Huckabee and the staying power of McCain, the fluidity looks like it will keep this race wide open past the first few states.”
Unsaid but implied is that they’re not as worried about Romney running the table in the early states and building up enough momentum to render Giuliani’s Florida and Tsunami Tuesday strategy irrelevant.
Pulling money out of New Hampshire, added the aide, will allow them “to marshal our resources for Florida and February 5, while keeping options open for changes in the early states.”
It will also make McCain’s pathway to success there considerably easier.
Still, the McCain “surge” in New Hampshire that the senator’s aides and backers are doggedly pushing with reporters and Republicans has not yet been ratified, according to poll numbers.
He’s been locked in at the same high-teens level of support for months now, unable to break through an apparent ceiling on the number of his longtime and loyal supporters there.
He’s taken out a line of credit to air TV ads in the state, is spending almost all of his campaign time stumping town-by-town as he did on the way to his 2000 success, and has already started moving key aides in from his national campaign staff as reinforcements.
Yet over half of likely Republican primary voters are still uncertain about their choices, despite having a near-adopted son in McCain, a next-door governor in Romney and celebrity politician in Giuliani.
The unpredictability is in some ways tied to a fourth figure in the GOP race — Mike Huckabee.
McCain has considerable hope that the former Arkansas governor will defeat — or at least badly wound — Romney in Iowa, where McCain has spent little time in recent weeks and has not aired any TV ads. McCain aides think that such damage to the New Hampshire front-runner will help nudge the undecided voters into their column.
But there is risk to this strategy, too, if Huckabee wins Iowa so significantly that he becomes a real option among undecided voters in New Hampshire.
Huckabee spent this past weekend in the Granite State, part of a recent effort to broaden his campaign beyond its Iowa base, and has seen his numbers in the state inch up. Still, he lags behind McCain and Giuliani there.
Unfortunately I think that his time has past. If he would have won in 2000 we would have a much better country and world today but I just think he's too late.
http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=E4894DE2-3048-5C12-0015E6F5CDD753BB
By: Mike Allen and Jonathan Martin
December 17, 2007 08:48 AM EST
Sen. Joseph Lieberman (Conn.), who was on the national Democratic ticket in 2000, will cross the aisle to endorse Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) Monday, Republican sources said.
The two will appear together on Fox News on Monday, then at an 8 a.m. town hall meeting in Hillsborough, N.H. They will talk with reporters after the meeting. McCain is also scheduled to appear on NBC's "Today" program.
The move, which will help cultivate McCain's moderate status, is an effort to draw attention to the McCain campaign, which needs a splash. Otherwise, it does not make sense for McCain because it will only remind core Republicans why they distrust him.
The endorsement came as one of McCain’s rivals for independent voters — Rudy Giuliani — began to pull back in New Hampshire and refocus his energy and resources in Florida and other states with later contests.
Noting Liberman’s appeal among unaffiliated voters in the 2004 Democratic primary, a top McCain aide said the Connecticut senator's backing "gives credence to, and more horsepower behind, our 'Independents for McCain' effort in New Hampshire and nationally."
Independents are an important factor in New Hampshire, and McCain, who won the state in 2000, is now depending on them.
The announcement looks like an effort to stem a stream of independents moving to Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.)
For McCain, the good news is coming in threes. The announcement follows endorsements of McCain on Sunday by the Des Moines Register and the Boston Globe.
William Kristol of the The Weekly Standard was the first to post the news, which rocketed through campaign circles Sunday afternoon.
Lieberman is an independent who caucuses with Democrats.
While Lieberman and the liberal-leaning Boston Globe’s endorsement may help boost McCain among independents who can vote in the New Hampshire GOP primary, he is counting on the more critical support of the conservative Union Leader to help him among the Republican base in the Granite State.
He’s currently airing an ad there that touts the support from the Manchester-based daily.
McCain is also being helped in the state by Giuliani’s reduced hopes for a victory there. Despite airing TV ads in New Hampshire for over a month and stepping up his appearances there, the former New York mayor’s poll numbers have been static or even slipped some.
Saturday, Giuliani made a symbolic statement that he and his campaign think their path to victory lies not in the early January snows of New Hampshire but in sunny Florida, which holds its primary in late January.
It was in Tampa — not Manchester — where Giuliani chose to give a much-heralded (if newsless) speech that was widely seen as an attempt to jumpstart a campaign that has slumped nationally recently after a spate of bad press.
Underscoring his decision to hold the speech in Florida, Giuliani will significantly cut back on his ad campaign in New Hampshire. The Nashua Telegraph reported today that this week Giuliani is cutting his media buy in half on the pricey Boston TV stations that reach across the border.
A top Giuliani aide told Politico that the decision was made to retain flexibility in a fluid race, acknowledging that the uncertainty of those early races has given them the confidence to target Florida as a springboard.
“An important objective throughout has been to keep the race wide open until February 5,” said this source. “With the increased spending and negativity of Gov. Romney’s campaign, the rise of Gov. Huckabee and the staying power of McCain, the fluidity looks like it will keep this race wide open past the first few states.”
Unsaid but implied is that they’re not as worried about Romney running the table in the early states and building up enough momentum to render Giuliani’s Florida and Tsunami Tuesday strategy irrelevant.
Pulling money out of New Hampshire, added the aide, will allow them “to marshal our resources for Florida and February 5, while keeping options open for changes in the early states.”
It will also make McCain’s pathway to success there considerably easier.
Still, the McCain “surge” in New Hampshire that the senator’s aides and backers are doggedly pushing with reporters and Republicans has not yet been ratified, according to poll numbers.
He’s been locked in at the same high-teens level of support for months now, unable to break through an apparent ceiling on the number of his longtime and loyal supporters there.
He’s taken out a line of credit to air TV ads in the state, is spending almost all of his campaign time stumping town-by-town as he did on the way to his 2000 success, and has already started moving key aides in from his national campaign staff as reinforcements.
Yet over half of likely Republican primary voters are still uncertain about their choices, despite having a near-adopted son in McCain, a next-door governor in Romney and celebrity politician in Giuliani.
The unpredictability is in some ways tied to a fourth figure in the GOP race — Mike Huckabee.
McCain has considerable hope that the former Arkansas governor will defeat — or at least badly wound — Romney in Iowa, where McCain has spent little time in recent weeks and has not aired any TV ads. McCain aides think that such damage to the New Hampshire front-runner will help nudge the undecided voters into their column.
But there is risk to this strategy, too, if Huckabee wins Iowa so significantly that he becomes a real option among undecided voters in New Hampshire.
Huckabee spent this past weekend in the Granite State, part of a recent effort to broaden his campaign beyond its Iowa base, and has seen his numbers in the state inch up. Still, he lags behind McCain and Giuliani there.