Defrosting the Republican Base

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McCain packed 17 mentions of "conservative" into the speech: He was "proud to be a conservative" with "conservative convictions." He would run "a campaign based on conservative principles." He would have "a clearly conservative approach to governing." Candidates tend to run to the extremes in the primaries and veer back to the center for the general. McCain doesn't have that luxury yet.

"It is my sincere hope that even if you believe I have occasionally erred in my reasoning as a fellow conservative, you will still allow that I have . . . maintained the record of a conservative," he said.

And, most humbly, "I am acutely aware that I cannot prevail in that endeavor . . . without the support of dedicated conservatives whose convictions, creativity and energy have been indispensable to the success our party has had over the last quarter-century."

I mean no disrespect by this analogy, but it reminded me of Richard Gere's line in "Pretty Woman," when he takes Julia Roberts to a snooty Beverly Hills boutique: "I think we need some major sucking up."

As much of that as McCain may have left to do, yesterday's speech also sounded the opening gun for the general election campaign: McCain vs. a candidate called, for the time being, "Senator Clinton and Senator Obama."

As in, "Senator Clinton and Senator Obama want to increase the size of the federal government. I intend to reduce it." Or, "Senator Clinton and Senator Obama will raise your taxes. I intend to cut them." They would, McCain warned, appoint liberal judges, yank troops out of Iraq despite "dire threats to our security" and twiddle their thumbs in the face of the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran.

By the end, the booing had diminished. The McCain placards were waving. And McCain had launched his general election campaign while the Democrats battled on, with no end in sight.

marcusr@washpost.com