Spring Break
Apathetic conservatives don't hinder McCain victory
Feb. 13, 2008
Jill Zuckman - Chicago TribuneIssue date: 2/7/08 Section: MCT News
ALEXANDRIA, Va. _ Sen. John McCain continued his march to the Republican nomination Tuesday, sweeping the three Potomac Primary contests despite a surprisingly strong showing by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in Virginia.
McCain's delegate tally now makes it arithmetically impossible for Huckabee or anyone else to win more delegates than him, making the Arizona senator the presumptive Republican nominee. His victories, following a long year of ups and downs, allowed him to begin challenging the Democrats.
"We do not yet know for certain who will have the honor of being the Democratic Party's nominee for president. But we know where either of their candidates will lead this country, and we dare not let them," McCain told a boisterous gathering here. "They will promise a new approach to governing, but offer only the policies of a political orthodoxy that insists the solution to government's failures is to simply make it bigger."
Tuesday's outcome leaves Huckabee with a hard decision about whether to stay in the race and risk aggravating the man who is presumed to be his party's standard-bearer.
"Huckabee is going to have to look downstream and decide whether continuing in this race will further his political career," said Scott Reed, the Republican strategist who ran Bob Dole's 1996 campaign. "If it's mathematically impossible to get the delegates, you have to question why he's still in the race."
McCain, however, went out of his way to praise Huckabee for his gifts as a communicator and for running a spirited campaign.
"He certainly keeps things interesting," McCain noted. "A little too interesting at times tonight, I must confess."
Although party regulars have been coalescing around McCain at a rapid clip since former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney dropped out of the presidential race last week, conservative voters in southern Virginia refused to go along with the program.
McCain handily won the primaries in Maryland and the District of Columbia, but struggled to clinch Virginia, thanks to the continued skepticism displayed by conservatives.
McCain's delegate tally now makes it arithmetically impossible for Huckabee or anyone else to win more delegates than him, making the Arizona senator the presumptive Republican nominee. His victories, following a long year of ups and downs, allowed him to begin challenging the Democrats.
"We do not yet know for certain who will have the honor of being the Democratic Party's nominee for president. But we know where either of their candidates will lead this country, and we dare not let them," McCain told a boisterous gathering here. "They will promise a new approach to governing, but offer only the policies of a political orthodoxy that insists the solution to government's failures is to simply make it bigger."
Tuesday's outcome leaves Huckabee with a hard decision about whether to stay in the race and risk aggravating the man who is presumed to be his party's standard-bearer.
"Huckabee is going to have to look downstream and decide whether continuing in this race will further his political career," said Scott Reed, the Republican strategist who ran Bob Dole's 1996 campaign. "If it's mathematically impossible to get the delegates, you have to question why he's still in the race."
McCain, however, went out of his way to praise Huckabee for his gifts as a communicator and for running a spirited campaign.
"He certainly keeps things interesting," McCain noted. "A little too interesting at times tonight, I must confess."
Although party regulars have been coalescing around McCain at a rapid clip since former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney dropped out of the presidential race last week, conservative voters in southern Virginia refused to go along with the program.
McCain handily won the primaries in Maryland and the District of Columbia, but struggled to clinch Virginia, thanks to the continued skepticism displayed by conservatives.
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