Sam Brownback Announces Presidential Bid
Brownback's supporters say the party's better-known contenders -- Arizona Sen. John McCain, former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney -- offer weaker platforms for voters who strongly oppose abortion, same-sex marriage and stem cell research.
"There are really two primaries taking place simultaneously in the Republican party," said Gary Bauer, the family values activist who ran for president in 2000. "One, for center-left candidates, is being fought out between Giuliani and Senator McCain. On the conservative side, nobody has captured that crown yet, but Senator Brownback will be a major competitor". . . .
Brownback's Senate campaign account has $600,000 as he starts his fundraising drive. A key to his campaign's financial strength may rest with Tom Monaghan, founder of Domino's Pizza and a Roman Catholic philanthropist who started Legatus, a lay group of wealthy conservative business executives. Monaghan has been serving as a top adviser to Brownback's campaign.The senator's chances may ultimately depend on his ability to ignite Christian conservatives, said John Green, senior fellow with the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. Religious activists "don't have a consensus candidate yet," he said, but Brownback is one "they're certainly paying a lot of attention to."
Labels: Brownback, Conservatives, Giuliani, McCain, Romney
posted by Marc at 9:42 PM
2 Comments:
Brownback's opposition to abortion and gay marriage, and his platform against wasteful federal spending and for compassionate and practical programs to help the poor, energy independence, stopping cancer, term limits for judges and members of Congress, and a flat tax, isn't going to win the nomination. He has alienated the core of his chosen conservative constituency by opposing the revised Iraq strategy and by supporting a path to citizenship for some of the nation's 11 million illegal aliens.
Brownback's campaign is Quixotic. Even though he first announced he was running on December 4, a new Washington Post and ABC News poll finds Brownback supported by only 1 percent. That's the same level of support CNN and Pew polls found for Brownback in November.
And yet, I see that as the dilemma for both Brownback and for Romney. Brownback's stances on Iraq and immigration make him a more viable candidate than he otherwise would be in a general election, but they could hurt him at the primary. And, although Brownback is not likely to win the primary, the support he does draw by virtue of the social positions you outlined are more likely, in my mind, to siphon support from Romney than McCain or Giuliani.
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