The Blog Formerly Known As Vote '08

Hey, Republicans! Are you ready for John McCain to be your Presidential nominee?

A page has turned with McCain’s Florida win, & today begins a new chapter in the fight for the Republican nomination. It begins with a narrowing of the GOP field as one candidate drops out, and an increasing chance that McCain will be who voters decide on in November. It also is forcing Democrats to take a hard look at which candidate gives McCain the hardest time in the general.

In Florida last night, McCain beat the expectations of many, including Zach Wamp — yet his victory comes as a vindication for one pollster who’s been burned several times this year. & McCain defied predictions that a primary closed to registered Republicans would be his undoing.

Here’s the Florida vote percentage breakdown:
John McCain - 36 percent-X
Mitt Romney - 31 percent
Rudy Giuliani - 15 percent
Mike Huckabee - 13 percent
Ron Paul - 3 percent
Fred Thompson - 1 percent

That’s a tough loss for Romney, any way you slice it.

Without further ado, let’s get to your morning links:

Read McCain’s victory speech here.

How did he do it? It boils down to how GOP voters in Florida viewed President Bush. Those who have soured on W’s policies voted for McCain (ironic when you remember McCain has been one of the President’s staunchest supporters on Iraq). Mitt Romney’s voters were in large part Bush fans. Also, voters who viewed trimming the deficit stayed in McCain’s camp; Romney won with those who favor more tax cuts instead. McCain also won against one of the biggest demographics for the general: Hispanics.

Huckabee supporters had McCain as their second choice, which may surprise those of you who thought they were anti-McCain. David Brooks reminds us why we shouldn’t pigeonhole voters and has some other lessons we can learn from the Florida primary.

McCain’s win & his likely nomination is very hard to swallow for many conservative Republicans who feel he has betrayed their cause on numerous occasions. Victor Davis Hanson has a warning for those in that camp.

Whom do anti-McCain conservatives like? Mitt Romney still has quite a few cheerleaders on the right, especially in the world of talk radio. Vote08 often checks in on Rush Limbaugh & Sean Hannity in the afternoons, and while they haven’t been overt about endorsing Romney, it’s clear they make a point of criticizing him the least. Were there a better candidate in the race, there is no doubt in my mind we’d be hearing the words “Mitt” & “flip-flopper” often mentioned next to each other on the airwaves.

Recent evidence of pro-Romneyism on the microphone: Sean Hannity & Mike Huckabee have been in a media dustup this week. Hannity took on Huckabee supporter Chuck Norris on Fox News last night.

Speaking of Fox News, the network has been for months clandestinely (some would say not so clandestinely) indicating it wants Rudy Giuliani to win (network Pres Roger Ailes has repeatedly supported Rudy in public). After a poor showing in a state where he bet all his cards, Rudy is expected to announce he’s quitting the race later today & throwing his support to McCain. This morning the Washington Post speculates on why Rudy didn’t survive. Giuliani did the worst in our recent NewsChannel9.com web poll — I watched the results over a 24 hour period & Rudy was the only candidate who got zero votes in that time span. Recall he visited Chattanooga two years ago, back when he was close to being the front runner, to raise money for then-Senate candidate Bob Corker.

Which brings us back to McCain. Zach Wamp told Vote08 yesterday the nominees would be decided after Super Tuesday. But today it’s looking increasingly likely that enough Republican voters will name him as their nominee. Why?

• Polls show him beating Hillary Clinton easily in the general. Waitaminute — never mind.
• The GOP traditionally gives its current ‘elder statesman’ his turn. Think Bob Dole in 1996, George HW Bush in 1988, etc. This year was somewhat traumatic without a clear person to fit this bill, but that figure appears to be emerging now.
• McCain appears to be “the choice” for GOP voters who are disappointed in President Bush. They get to vote “against” the current president’s policies without crossing over to the other side.

& speaking of the other side, here’s this morning’s Democratic news.

Hey, did you hear Florida was a big win for Hillary Clinton last night? Even though all candidates agreed months ago not to campaign or accept delegates because the state broke the rules by moving up its primary? Is that fair, Hillary supporters? Should Florida’s Democratic delegates have a voice at this summer’s convention?

& speaking of conventions — it’s increasingly looking like delegates are going to matter more for both parties than at any other time since most of us have been alive. We’ll dive into the details later this week.

Barack Obama tells ABC News why he’s the candidate who could beat McCain.

The Washington Monthly makes a case that, to paraphrase Lloyd Bentsen in the 1988 Vice-Presidential debate, that Obama is no Jack Kennedy.

Not all Kennedys are Obama fans.

This year the Democratic race for the nomination is breaking down of racial and gender barriers. But Newsweek’s Anna Quindlen wonders if Americans are ready to break the age barrier as well.

Will a McCain nomination be a boon to political cartoonists? An artist takes you through his thought process in drawing John McCain.

Katie Couric had a fascinating piece on another network last night. She asked each of the presidential candidates “if you could take only one book with you to the White House other than the Bible, what would it be?” The candidates’ answers:

• John McCain: The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith. The “bible” for economists everywhere.
• Barack Obama: Team of Rivals by Doris Kearnes Goodwin. A Lincoln biography focusing on his cabinet.
• Mitt Romney: John Adams, a biography by David McCullough
• Mike Huckabee: Whatever Happened to the Human Race? by Francis Schaeffer & C. Everett Koop
• John Edwards: The Trial of Socrates by I.F. Stone
• Hillary Clinton: The Federalist Papers, the “behind-the-scenes” bible for the creation of the American government.
• Rudy Giuliani: The Federalist Papers, the “behind-the-scenes” bible for the creation of the American government. (no, that’s not a typo - they both gave the same answer)

Like Romney, Vote08 would choose a David McCollough biography but intead of “Adams” it would be “Truman.”

Speaking of HST, Margaret Truman, daughter of President Truman, died yesterday. She did not enjoy her time in the White House, but she is involved in one of my favorite anecdotes about the Truman presidency. Truman touted his daughter’s singing abilities. When Truman picked up his “Washington Post” early on December 6, 1950, to read a review of his daughter Margaret Truman’s singing performance, he was livid. Though conceding that Miss Truman was “extremely attractive,” Paul Hume, the “Post’s” music critic, stated bluntly that “Miss Truman cannot sing very well” and “has not improved” over the years. Acting as a parent first & leader of the free world second, the president wrote the following letter to the 34-year old Hume, whom he compared to the columnist Westbrook Pegler (”a rat,” in Truman’s view):

Mr Hume:

I’ve just read your lousy review of Margaret’s concert. I’ve come to the conclusion that you are an “eight ulcer man on four ulcer pay.”

It seems to me that you are a frustrated old man who wishes he could have been successful. When you write such poppy-cock as was in the back section of the paper you work for it shows conclusively that you’re off the beam and at least four of your ulcers are at work.

Some day I hope to meet you. When that happens you’ll need a new nose, a lot of beefsteak for black eyes, and perhaps a supporter below!

Pegler, a gutter snipe, is a gentleman alongside you. I hope you’ll accept that statement as a worse insult than a reflection on your ancestry.

H.S.T.

I guess you could say Presidents may come & go, but their animosity towards the media remains constant!

What do you think about McCain’s Florida win? Can Huckabee still win? Is Romney going to give him a run for his money? Which Democratic can best beat McCain? Post a comment & let us know!

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