With John McCain rolling up some large delegate totals, his upcoming visit to CPAC tomorrow will be a critical point in his campaign. He has to find a way to work with the conservative activists that could help propel him to victory, and to do that he has to assure them of his own credentials as a conservative. Mark Tapscott has a suggestion for McCain’s opening bid in his speech tomorrow:
1. McCain-Coburn: Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma may be the most credible politician in the GOP, thanks to his no-nonsense, bluntly honest approach to earmarks and federal spending. Coburn is already a McCain supporter. Reagan announced Schweicker ahead of the 76 GOP convention. McCain can put Coburn on the ticket and make him the McCain administration’s tax and budget czar.
2. Reform McCain-Feingold: McCain should admit the First Amendment says Congress shall make NO law regarding freedom of political speech. That means McCain-Feingold must be rewritten as a campaign finance disclosure law, not a campaign speech regulation.
3. Build The Fence: Stop the nonsense and doubletalk. Like Reagan said, a nation that cannot control its border is not a sovereign nation.
The third may be the most likely to appear in the speech. The other two will likely not. If McCain wants to keep Mike Huckabee in the race to frustrate Romney’s hopes of a head-to-head race, he has to keep the VP option open. Besides, Reagan’s announcement of Schweicker didn’t do Reagan a lot of good in 1976, and was widely seen as a mistake. And on the BCRA, I suspect we will not hear any retreat from the Senator who considers that his signature legislation and has gone to court to defend it.
Still, Mark’s right in that McCain has to start negotiating for support in part on the terms of conservatives. He will likely do so on judicial nominations, pork-barrel spending, and budget reductions. We can also expect to hear reminders that McCain has been pro-life during his entire career, and while he might not support Constitutional amendments favored by the pro-life activists, he isn’t going to roll back the work done by the movement over the last twenty-five years.
Today is a travel day for me, as I will be attending CPAC. I’ll report on the speech and its reception, as well as any by Mitt Romney as he tries to keep the conservatives lined up behind him. I’ll be conducting my normal Heading Right Radio show, but I will also have a BlogTalkRadio CPAC channel. It will publish the interviews I conduct immediately as podcasts, so be sure to keep checking the channel for updates.
