McCain struggles to woo far right
McCain struggles to woo far right

By Chris Casteel

Published: February 8, 2008

WASHINGTON — His nomination all but assured, U.S. Sen. John McCain reached out Thursday to hard-core conservatives — the Republican Party bloc that has most resisted him — and promised they'll agree more often than not.

"My record in public office taken as a whole is the record of a mainstream conservative,” McCain told the Conservative Political Action Conference.

Sign-waving McCain supporters were positioned throughout the huge ballroom, and their cheers managed to drown out an occasional smattering of boos, except when McCain talked about illegal immigration, an issue on which he has infuriated conservatives.

McCain's speech came less than two hours after former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney announced to the same group that he was going to suspend his presidential campaign. Romney's decision leaves former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who has less than a third of the delegates McCain controls, and U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, who has only a few delegates, vying for the GOP nomination.

Though he hasn't sewn up the nomination, McCain was in a commanding position even before Romney's withdrawal. And though Huckabee may pull off some primary wins in southern states, McCain's delegate lead, momentum and appeal to a broad range of Republicans gives him a huge advantage.

Still, McCain, of Arizona, didn't seem to be in general election mode on Thursday. Rather than trying to appeal to the middle, McCain was trying to convince the Republican Party's conservative base that he wasn't the enemy.

McCain got some help at the conference from a hero of the conservative movement — Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Muskogee, who introduced McCain to the crowd as "a man of rare courage and character.”

Coburn has been a McCain ally in the Senate and endorsed the Arizona senator last month. He said McCain would do what he promised to do and, in an apparent dig at President Bush, said McCain wouldn't wait until the last year of his presidency to pick a fight with Congress.

He praised McCain for voting against the president's prescription drug program for seniors, for attacking wasteful spending and earmarks and for his record on national security.

On immigration, Coburn said McCain had been trying to solve the problem.

"He doesn't have a secret plan to enact blanket amnesty when he becomes president,” Coburn said.

"I respect your opposition for I know that the vast majority of critics to the bill based their opposition in a principled defense of the rule of law. And while I and other Republican supporters of the bill were genuine in our intention to restore control of our borders, we failed, for various and understandable reasons, to convince Americans that we were.

"I accept that, and have pledged that it would be among my highest priorities to secure our borders first, and only after we achieved widespread consensus that our borders are secure, would we address other aspects of the problem in a way that defends the rule of law and does not encourage another wave of illegal immigration.”

McCain also sought to assure the crowd that he was an ally on tax policy — he vowed to extend the Bush tax cuts, even though he voted against some of them — and cut the corporate tax rate and eliminate the Alternative Minimum Tax. He also vowed to nominate conservative judges, veto bills including earmarks and address health care reform with "free-market solutions.”

McCain also pledged to listen to conservatives on issues.

"We have had a few disagreements, and none of us will pretend that we won't continue to have a few,” he said. "But even in disagreement, especially in disagreement, I will seek the counsel of my fellow conservatives.”

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