Empty, Open Arms

Video

McCain Campaign Looks Ahead to General Election

The Post's Mike Shear reports from Houston on former Secretary of State James Baker's endorsement of Sen. John McCain and how the Republican contender's campaign is beginning to focus on a possible national match up with Sen. Barack Obama.

» LAUNCH VIDEO PLAYER

Tony Blankley, who was press secretary to former House speaker Newt Gingrich, wrote pointedly in the conservative publication Human Events: "It would be the first time in living memory that a Republican presidential nomination went to a candidate who was not merely opposed by a majority of the party but was actively despised by about half its rank-and-file voters across the country -- and by many, if not most, of its congressional officeholders."

The case against McCain has a number of specific counts, as his critics see it, notably his compromise in the Senate on immigration, his vote against the Bush tax cuts, his co-sponsorship of campaign finance reform, his position on global warming and his involvement in the bipartisan "Gang of 14" effort to break the procedural logjam on judicial nominees.

"John McCain gives the impression that he needs the conservatives to come to him," said Bay Buchanan, a conservative activist. "Basically, we've been abused for a dozen years here, and he gives us this fatherly kindness and expects us to get in line. He has to give us a reason to vote for him because his record is not enough for us."

Abused for a dozen years? This sense of beleaguerment -- if not entitlement -- is a familiar conservative posture. This is the wing that believes it built the modern Republican Party, that licked the stamps for the direct-mail operations and fueled the growth of talk radio. This is the wing that hands out the fliers outside churches and provides much of the passion and energy needed to combat opponents in national elections. This is the wing that likes its candidates to bow down and pledge fealty.

As some strategists see it, the question is not whether McCain will ultimately get the support of conservatives over, say, Barack Obama. It is whether he will win their hearts so that they will battle for him.

"It is so important in the presidential campaigns of our time, which are so close," said conservative GOP consultant Greg Mueller. "You want the entire apparatus involved. I have never heard of an independent activist, have you? I have heard of a conservative activist. We need them, because we need to get the vote out. That's Politics 101."

Politics 102 is this: Conservatives seem most at home -- and at their best -- when they are complaining about something. They love to put on the underdog's collar even when they are in power.

"Conservatives are always disputing something or other," observed Lee Edwards, a Heritage Foundation historian who has written widely about the conservative movement. "They are just a naturally disputatious lot."

This goes back, Edwards notes, to the beginning of the conservative movement, which was shaped by the 1953 publication of Russell Kirk's "The Conservative Mind" and the founding of the magazine National Review. In the early days, the ideological debate within the GOP was often between traditional conservatives and libertarians. "This is a little bit like the Hatfields and the McCoys," said Edwards.

During the 1952 presidential campaign, displeased conservatives wanted to take a walk because their favorite candidate, Robert Taft, had been defeated by Dwight Eisenhower in a bitter nominating fight. Taft met with Ike, extracted a few concessions and helped to fend off a potential intraparty disaster that threatened Eisenhower's election.

Edwards maintains that conservatives often threaten, but often come around. In 1976, he said, conservatives preferred Ronald Reagan but ended up getting behind Gerald Ford, who ended up losing to Jimmy Carter. In 1988, they were lukewarm about George H.W. Bush, but the prospect of a Michael Dukakis presidency was even more revolting. In 2000, George W. Bush was hardly seen as a perfect movement conservative, but the idea of continuing the Clinton presidency with his vice president, Al Gore, couldn't be stomached. Conservatives have not always been happy with the Bush presidency, but they Swift-boated John Kerry in 2004 even as they pushed Bush to do more for them.

Edwards puts it this way: "Do you want an 82 percent conservative in McCain? Or do you want a 100 percent liberal in Obama?"