Palin Has Republican Delegates' Confidence

By Anita Kumar, N.C. Aizenman and John Wagner
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, August 31, 2008

When Washington area Republicans learned that Sen. John McCain had picked Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate Friday, the feeling was "literally like if the Redskins had just won the Super Bowl," said Jeff Frederick, chairman of Virginia's Republican Party, who was already in Minneapolis meeting with fellow conservatives in advance of the Republican National Convention.

"People were high-fiving, giving each other hugs, smiling from ear to ear. It was euphoria."

The announcement came as local GOP delegates to the convention were already preparing to rally behind a candidate that in many cases had not been their first choice. However, McCain's selection of Palin -- whose conservative credentials on everything from abortion to gay rights to gun rights are unquestioned -- appeared to give that effort a shot in the arm.

"I've been arguing for a long time that John McCain would have to pick someone who would not just satisfy conservatives but send them running back to him," said Frederick, who originally supported the staunchly antiabortion former Tennessee senator Fred Thompson. "And with this selection, John McCain hit it out of the park."

Even before the Palin selection was announced, the 229 delegates and alternates from Virginia, Maryland and the District who will be attending the convention in St. Paul, Minn., this week said they were enthusiastically supporting, and are committed to voting for, McCain as their presidential nominee.

"Even those of us who supported other candidates are four-square behind John McCain," said Maryland House Minority Leader Anthony J. O'Donnell (Calvert), who initially backed Thompson. "We're unified."

Robert Kabel, chairman of the District's Republican Party, said McCain's choice of Palin will further increase the appeal of the candidate and the Republican ticket in November.

"She's pretty impressive," he said.

Many local Republican delegates who originally supported the more socially moderate candidacy of former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani were equally enthusiastic, praising McCain's decision to name the first woman to a Republican presidential ticket as bold and groundbreaking.

"When I saw the e-mail [confirming Palin's selection] I was like, 'Wow, we've really got a complete ticket.' . . . The [Democratic] ticket is all about making history, but our ticket is about leadership experience and making history, so we sort of kill two birds with one stone," said Christie Craig, an alternate delegate from Chesapeake, Va., speaking on her cellphone as she walked through the Minneapolis airport shortly after touching down.

Many also expressed confidence that the self-described "hockey mom" to a baby with Down syndrome and to a young man headed to Iraq with the Army this fall could appeal to working class, white women who supported Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) over Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) in the Democratic primaries.

"A lot of those 18 million [Clinton] voters feel disenfranchised and betrayed," said Chuck Smith, a delegate from Virginia Beach, speaking over the clatter of his Amtrak train en route to Minneapolis. "They have to go somewhere, and I think this will give them an opportunity to vote for someone who really represents change. I mean, [Palin] is as far away from Washington, D.C., as you can get without leaving the continental United States."

Some Republican strategists have privately expressed concern that Palin's limited political experience -- she is two years into her term as governor and was previously mayor of a town of less than 10,000 people -- could prove a liability by undercutting McCain's contention that Obama is unprepared for the White House.

However, Washington area GOP delegates said the argument was still valid. "Obama is running for president of the United States. Sarah Palin is not," Frederick said.

He and others also said that Palin has accomplished important changes during her short time in office and noted that she is the only candidate on either presidential ticket to have executive branch, as opposed to legislative, experience.

"She is a tough executive who has demonstrated strong vision and leadership," Maryland GOP Chairman James Pelura said.

Palin "has not hesitated to irk the Republican establishment on ethics reform and other issues," agreed Anne Arundel County Executive John R. Leopold, who originally backed Giuliani.

The unbroken front in support of Palin culminates a months-long process of reconciliation among local Republicans.

Many of the area's most prominent GOP leaders originally backed McCain's opponents. Virginia Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling and the District's two national committee members supported former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. Maryland House Minority Whip Christopher B. Shank of Washington and Virginia House Speaker William J. Howell of Stafford were boosters of former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee. Former Maryland governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., the state's most prominent Republican, backed Giuliani.

Although McCain swept Republican primaries in Virginia, Maryland and the District on Feb. 12, Romney, Thompson and Giuliani had already dropped out. And Huckabee, who did not drop out until a few weeks later, did well in rural areas, especially in Southwest Virginia, western Maryland and Maryland's Eastern Shore, by tapping into conservative discontent about McCain's moderate positions on immigration, campaign finance, taxes and energy.

Several Republican activists praised McCain for reaching out to the party's conservative base since then.

"I think he has done a good job of . . . communicating to people the fact that even though they may not agree with him on one or two issues, they agree with him on the vast majority of the issues," Bolling said.

And many said the decision to support McCain was cemented when it became clear that the Arizona senator would be running against Obama, whom they describe as "inexperienced" and "liberal."

"We had 11 candidates. We had people spread out all over the place," said Virginia Attorney General Robert F. McDonnell, who was co-chairman of Thompson's Virginia campaign. "But we have done a good job of rallying together."

Staff researcher Magda Jean-Louis contributed to this report.