As you can tell, lots of activity amongst the Religious Right today. Just got an email from the McCain campaign confirming the Brownback endorsement. Here’s some of the text from the Kansas Senator and leading social conservative.
[John McCain] is the only candidate who can rally the Reagan coalition of conservatives, Independents, and conservative Democrats needed to defeat Hillary Clinton or any other Democrat in the general election next year… While I respect all of the Republicans running for president this year, John McCain is the only choice to lead our country in the global fight against Islamic fundamentalism…John McCain also represents the values that are the core of our Republican party. He has spent a lifetime standing up for human rights around the world, including a consistent 24 year pro-life record of protecting the rights of the unborn.
This is surprising. McCain has little to no support amongst Brownback’s base, Christian evangelicals. He took 1.4 percent of the vote in a straw poll of that subgroup in October. Will Brownback’s endorsement boost that number? I’m skeptical.
If McCain is the winner here, Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney are the losers. I said when Brownback dropped out of the presidential race that the biggest beneficiary was Huckabee, the Arkansas Governor, because Brownback’s departure made Huckabee the only remaining social conservative in the race. I guess that didn’t matter to Brownback. Nor did the fact that Mitt Romney is all about family. Who knows with the Republicans this year?
