Conservative Unease

I'm not sure what to make of the continuing conservative unease about Mitt Romney's candidacy. Especially since none of the three leading candidates seems to be inspiring the conservative base. Consider, for instance:

• Bob Novak wrote yesterday of "a void on the right."
  

• The Politico reports on "a mood of gloom" at CPAC, and cites the dissatisfaction of grass-roots organizers like Citizens United President David Bossie (“I’m disenchanted, I’m disenfranchised, I’m just dissed") and the Eagle Forum's Phyllis Schlafly (the three GOP front-runners are "all equally unacceptable").
  

• The New York Daily News is reporting that "Some[CPAC] attendees were handing out "Rudy McRomney" stickers with a red line through the middle - signifying conservative unease with Giuliani, Romney and Sen. John McCain."
  

• The Washington Times is reporting that 2008 Hopeful James Gilmore will break Reagan's 11th commandment and "become the first Republican presidential contender to say publicly that the three top-ranked party candidates are phony conservatives."

Everyone seems to agree that this unrest leaves the door wide-open for a candidate with less baggage, but no one seems to know just who that might be. Newt Gingrich is the only name that keeps coming up, but he's said he won't announce his intentions until September, leaving something of a vacuum until then.

So where does this leave us? Romney's campaign seems to think this dissatisfaction gives him a prime opportunity to win over conservatives on the sincerity of his "conversion." It seems like a logical proposition, the trouble is that Romney doesn't seem to be winning that many people over. The Politico wonders whether Romney is simply a "bad fit" for the Republican party right now, citing the fact that he consistently comes in fourth behind the unannounced Gingrich in national polls, while Giuliani, who critics (myself included) contended couldn't be nominated, is building a sizeable lead among likely GOP primary voters. This in spite of the fact that more and more voters are learning of his liberal social views, something most pundits thought would be Giuliani's death kneel. Early reports are that Giuliani won the Spartanburg, South Carolina straw poll yesterday, indicating that his viability extends beyond the Northeast and West. A lot of conservatives, including George Will and Bob Novak, now say they see Giuliani and a viable primary candidate. Even staunch social conservative Rick Santorum didn't rule out supporting Giuliani (saying that he would NOT endors was McCain).

I think it's too early to draw any strong conclusions from all of this, but it seems as though many voters are signaling their willingness to vote for a candidate who is strong on security and is "electable" over a candidate who is perhaps a better ideological fit.

Romney News Round Up

It's been a pretty big news day for events affected Mitt Romney's campaign. On the eve of the Spartanburg straw poll and CPAC, John McCain made a surprising announcement of his intentions to run for president on the Late Show with David Letterman. The quasi-announcement (he's still expected to "officially" announce in April) was certainly an attempt to steal some of the spotlight from Romney, Giuliani, and others this weekend at CPAC (which he himself will not be attending).... will it be enough to get the buzz back into his campaign (which has lost more than 10% points to Giuliani in some polls of late)? Anyhow, here are some McCain, Giuliani, and Romney news clips that caught my eye:

• McCain Says He'll Seek Presidency, Plans To Make It Official In April (Washington Post): McCain made an unexpected announcement of his intentions to run for president last night on the Late Show with David Letterman.

• McCain Fundraiser Set At Utah Home (SL Trib): McCain is venturing into Romney territory ... "Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., who has endorsed McCain, invited him to Utah to raise funds. About 60 to 70 Utahns are expected at Simmons' home for the Thursday luncheon."
  

• Religious Attacks Disavowed (SL Trib): "Days before presidential candidate John McCain visits Utah, his campaign says the Arizona senator condemns any attack against his opponent, Mitt Romney, over his Mormon faith." I wonder if he'll live up to this.
  

• Laura Ingraham Radio Show: Apparently Bob Novak is "changing his view that Giuliani can't be nominated by the Republican party."
  

• A Convertible Candidate (the Politico): "If the conservative press could pick the Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney might have had the nomination locked up last year. By spring 2006, he had appeared on the covers of The Weekly Standard, National Review and The American Spectator with such laudatory headlines as "Matinee Mitt" and "Romney Rocks". . . . But there are signs that Romney's honeymoon with conservative pundits may be coming to an end. The candidate received an early warning in January when he went to address the National Review Institute's Conservative Summit, which ought to have been friendly territory."

• Yesterday, Romney also issued a couple of press releases announcing his Latin American Policy Advisory Group and his Arizona Leadership Team.
  

• The National Review Online had an interesting discussion on Sam Brownback vis-a-vis Romney. Kathryn Jean Lopez wondered whether Brownback was actually running for McCain's VP. She noted an email from Brownback's campaign that lashed out at Romney: "[Romney's] staff unjustly maligned Senator Brownback's record on life issues, and then Senator McCain's record on life issues, Governor Romney continued this tactic by untruthfully characterizing the record of President Bush on life issues. It is disturbing that Governor Romney has seen fit to respond to legitimate questions about his own record by falsely attempting to reinvent everyone else in the race (and President Bush) in his own image...." Lopez said "The shame of this is I think Romney may be the most liable to lead on the social issues — if his cloning and marriage fights in Massachusetts are any indication. On the chance he might be a true-blue latter-day lifer it strikes me as unwise for Brownback... to tear him down so directly and consistently." National Review Editor Rich Lowry responded that "Seems to me it's imperative for Brownback to try tear down Romney's pro-life credentials. He has to do it if he's going to try to be the sole authentic social conservative in the race. I think the way it's going to go, working our way roughly from the right, is that Brownback is going to try to tear down Romney's pro-life credentials, and Romney is going to try to tear down (he hopes) McCain's, and McCain is going to try to tear down Giuliani's (which shouldn't be hard because they're basically non-existent, at least post-1989). Welcome to the presidential pro-life credentials food chain!"