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Courting The Hillary VoteThe Trouble Facing Sen. John McCain's Latest Strategy
In the past few days Sen. John McCain, has attempted to pull votes away from Sen. Obama into his own campaign for president, but will this strategy be effective?
There are two elephants in the room of the GOP party. One is the mascot and the other is Sen. McCain's campaign. Sen. Barack Obama has secured his post as the presumptive nominee for the Democratic Party’s candidate for President and has even gained support from his former rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton. But trouble still looms on the road to the White House and not just for the Democrats. According to a recent CNN/Opinion research poll, 22 percent of former Clinton supporters said that they would abstain from voting in the general election while another 17 percent would defect to Republican candidate, Sen. John McCain. While it's unclear if this reaction is only demonstrating the immediate effects of post-primary disappointment or a serious indicator of what the DNC can expect in the fall, it has caused a stir within the Democratic Party and on Sen. Obama’s search for a Vice President. In turn, the McCain campaign has already begun to exploit this weakness in the Obama camp by attempting to gain a strong following among disaffected Democrats, even going so far as to post messages of affection for Sen. Clinton and posting her image on the official McCain website. But Sen. McCain may be putting his efforts to work on the wrong side of the political fence. For some time now, ha has held an appeal with independent voters but has had a considerable problem in selling himself to those within the GOP. As recently as the February 12 primaries, he lost among conservatives to Mike Huckabee by 25% to 51%. Though Huckabee is no longer running, the concern over the reluctance of Republicans to embrace McCain as the leader of their party has grown. In addition, McCain’s campaign has been racked by high-profile resignations and been regarded by officials within his party as highly disorganized, citing such problems as his conflicting, party-centric messages. Overall, the Republicans seem just as divided over candidates as the Democrats. While the Democratic Party worries over the possibility over losing votes to McCain, many conservatives have already begun to move away from the GOP and into Obama’s corner. The grassroots campaign RepblicansforObama.com has had an effect in the Republican community, boasting over 1,500 volunteer members in its online community. As McCain makes moves to sway Clinton’s former constituents,the Obama has been equally active in courting traditional conservative voices and has made inroads with one of their key demographics. His campaign has begun the “Joshua Generation Project”, which is making an effort to court American Catholics and Evangelicals, a group that McCain lost to Huckabee during the Virginia primaries by 28% to 61%. In attempting to gain votes from Clinton’s former supporters, McCain may be ignoring the larger troubles existing within his own party. Failing to unite conservatives behind him before going after Democratic votes leaves his campaign vulnerable to the same pitfalls he is attempting to make use of.
The copyright of the article Courting The Hillary Vote in US Elections is owned by Kirk Jacobson. Permission to republish Courting The Hillary Vote in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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