Primary

GOP Panhandling John McCain’s moment in the sun

By A.G. Gancarski

BRAVING TORRENTIAL RAIN, a crowd described Romney as the compromise professional wrestler Ric Flair, who at a of 700 Republican regulars gathered at choice. “Most of the local GOP hierar- rally in Colombia stood on the stage the University of North Florida in Jack- chy had not aligned with any campaign kissing his bottle-blonde trophy wife sonville to hear the winner of that day’s by early fall,” he said. “Each of the major while the candidate tried to deliver his Nevada caucus, . He had candidates had been through to meet stump speech. traded his usual suit jacket for rolled-up with the group and make their pitch. In Jacksonville, Huckabee’s hard luck sleeves; the effect was Ward Cleaver on Still no commitments. As everyone struck again at the Trinity Baptist a Saturday afternoon. understands, each candidate has flaws Church where he was scheduled to “If you want the nomination, and you to go with their strengths.” preach the Sunday before the primary. want to win the presidency,” Romney As the primary approached, Delaney Trinity’s long-serving pastor had recently declared, “you’ve got to get Florida.” It related, “the rest of the state began to been convicted of child molestation. As was a grim admission: Romney’s largely wonder where the Jacksonville people the media focused on this unpleasant- self-financed campaign and political were. So our group, informal as it was, ness, the campaign veered uneasily future depended on a state where asked each campaign to make a one- between saying that the engagement had people normally come to spend their hour pitch, back to back. We met on one been cancelled and claiming that it had children’s inheritance and die. day with representatives from the never been scheduled. Unlike Rudy Giuliani, Romney didn’t Thompson, Romney, McCain, and Giu- Huckabee opted to address the Trini- choose a Florida-or-bust approach. He liani campaigns—the ‘Big Four.’ The tarians by telephone and spent Sunday was backed into it after his early-state group decided that moving en masse [to afternoon at a rally in the courtyard of strategy was blown away by Mike Huck- maximize impact] was best.” the Jacksonville Landing, a mall on the abee’s surprise triumph in Iowa and But winning over the local party banks of the St. John’s River. The sun- John McCain’s rise from the dead in machine proved less difficult for Romney soaked crowd—flush with a couple hun- New Hampshire. In the end, he came up than winning the hearts of common dred so-called “Wal-Mart Republicans,” five points short. people. At the Jacksonville MLK Day many of whom came from nearby states The Sunshine State was never going parade, he attempted to chat up clusters —was receptive but not rapturous. to be an easy conquest. It would be a of unkempt teenagers wearing flannel Struggling in the polls, Huckabee close-run race, fought region by region. pajama pants and balancing babies on lunged desperately toward folksy John A Romney aide confided that they “had their hips. “Who let the dogs out? Whoop! Edwards territory. He unconvincingly to win” north Florida to have any chance Whoop!” Mitt barked, attempting to flash laid into Fair Tax critics, opining that he because of the perceived strength of up his street cred with an awkward refer- was “tired of the boobirds,” who inexpli- McCain and Giuliani elsewhere. ence to the Baha Men’s chart hit from cably oppose “taxes so simple that a With this in mind, Romney relied on eight years ago. Later, talking to a young seven year old running a lemonade his golden touch with party insiders and black mother, Romney said to her baby, stand can understand.” Would these had snagged impressive North Florida “Oh, you’ve got some bling bling on.” kids be collecting 30 cents for the fed- endorsements well before this event. Clearly, the governor was eral government for each glass they But endorsements don’t guarantee out of his element. sold? Huckabee didn’t say. After finish- enthusiasm. But he had competition for offending ing his pitch, he dutifully strapped on UNF president and former two-term local sensibilities. has the bass guitar and played “Brown Eyed Jacksonville mayor John Delaney, a seemed snakebit since his decision to Girl” with a local band. The bassline prototypical Jeb Bush Republican, barnstorm South Carolina with wizened didn’t quite match the drums.

LICENSED TO UNZ.ORGFebruary 11, 2008 The American Conservative 25 ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED Primary

The optimistic energy that once char- endorsements from GOP heavy hitters George Romney. And primary crowds acterized Huckabee’s campaign had dis- Gov. Charlie Crist and Sen. Mel Mar- are often like their candidates. Here was sipated. He looked like a weary veteran tinez, McCain opted to skip the State of an abundance of well-scrubbed families playing out the string—but his persist- the Union address for one more pivotal and couples in preppy casual wear— ence came at a high price for Romney, tour of the major Florida media mar- folks with clean credit and cleaner con- who needed to do well in the panhandle kets, starting in the northeast corner of sciences. More than 400 materialized for and other heavily evangelical areas the state. Romney traveled the same cir- Romney’s farewell: no Asians or Hispan- Huckabee targeted. cuit, though in reverse, hitting Jack- ics, two blacks (a father and a son), and If his competitors’ campaigns were sonville after sundown. a couple of white girls who looked like uninspiring, Giuliani’s Florida gamble The effect created might have been they’d been to Hot Topic at least once. proved entirely futile. The national media that of a title fight—two heavyweight The definitive scene: a newlywed presented the collapse of Rudy2008 as a contenders going toe-to-toe for the same couple making giddy thumbs-up poses surprise. But those who saw his cam- prize. But the McCain departure rally for their digital camera, holding prefab paign on a daily basis knew better. felt more like an exhibition than a Romney signs. Sometimes, you see He had once owned Florida in the thriller. Hastily organized, with no more people doing things like this ironically. polls, enjoying twice the support of the than 100 people in attendance at a But Romneyworld is an irony-free zone. rest of the field. But as they racked up remote location, it seemed to diminish When the candidate’s charter arrived, wins, his numbers tumbled, and Giuliani his candidacy at the worst possible time. the crowd rushed en masse toward the responded by doing what so many Two of McCain’s Prada-heeled staffers door of the hangar chanting “Go Mitt losing pols do—pandering to his percep- gamely distributed “Mac Is Back” plac- Go” and brandishing “Mitt’s My Man” tion of the base. He ended up betting his ards to the ex-Marines and soccer signs. From a safe distance, the scene entire mismanaged operation on a last- moms, but signs outnumbered people. resembled footage of a Nixon ’72 rally. ditch attempt to create mania for There were barely enough McCainiacs On the dais, the ever-energetic “national catastrophic insurance.” In the to fill the rope line. Romney rapid-fired through his usual waning hours of his first and last stand, As the dreary ‘80s hit “Danger Zone” 15-minute stump speech—punctuated Rudy was equal parts Willy Loman and blared for the umpteenth time, I con- with his call-and-response riff “They George Costanza. versed with 88-year-old Ted Boutwell, a haven’t. We will.” If fatigue had set in for On an overcast Saturday afternoon veteran in the Cotton Hill mode who, his the candidate as it had for the worn-out the weekend before the primary, in a daughter told me, “was one of the origi- troupe of reporters accompanying him, smallish ballroom at the Orlando Rosen nal Top Guns” in World War II. The it didn’t show. Centre Hotel, his campaign hosted a steely-eyed Boutwell sat in a lawn chair, But Romney’s best efforts weren’t “Women For Rudy” event. Giuliani ran sporting a wool coat and ski hat. Asked enough. In one sense, his strategy late, fittingly enough. why he supported McCain, he smiled worked: he carried northeast Florida. “I’ve accomplished big things, and we inscrutably, chuckled, then rasped, “I But he got waxed in Tampa and Miami. need a president who can accomplish don’t want to say why—it wouldn’t be Rallies matter, and Romney put on a big things,” he grasped, with the convic- appropriate in mixed company.” good show. He also had a stronger tion of a man who had run out of ideas If McCain’s departure struck a desul- ground operation. But he was unable to months before. “We have to think about tory note, Romney’s arrival a few hours take Florida in spite of these advan- great goals for this country” like “putting later was as well-run and energy-infused tages—which doesn’t bode well for his the first person on Mars.” It was clear as the candidate could hope. As Motown chances going out, no matter how many that Rudy’s campaign had sunk. hits played, supporters milled about ads he buys. Whatever political capital America’s smiling, pointing, greeting one another “You can turn people out, but you Mayor might have amassed since 9/11 like it was Wednesday night at church. can’t turn them on,” told was spent by John McCain, who out- This was the most congenial crowd by Anwar Sadat in 1974. In 2008, in Florida, hawked him at every turn, even hosting far, but it was a very specific sort of John McCain essentially told Mitt a “national security roundtable” with friendliness, rooted in what Bill Bradley Romney the same thing. former CIA director and neocon darling called “white skin privilege.” James Woolsey on the eve of the pri- Mitt Romney is the squarest man to A.G. Gancarski writes from Jack- mary. Riding a wave of well-timed run for the presidency since, well, sonville, Fla.

26 The American Conservative February 11, 2008LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED Daniel Larison

Losing One for the Gipper

Feted as the consensus conservative champion who leaving the race is sad for those who were big fans of his, but it probably helps would fill the void left by the other candidates, Fred my effort in terms of bringing together Thompson withdrew from the presidential race devoid those Reagan coalition individuals, and it probably will be a bit of a boost for me.” of electoral success. Finishing behind Romney is a recent convert, eagerly Given the similarity of their messages, him in South Carolina, and apparently uttering truisms about the ills of the wel- Romney’s hopes to benefit from Thomp- incapable of winning any closely con- fare state as if they were bold new ideas son’s departure and become the consen- tested election, was Mitt Romney, the and dubbing his proposal for a series of sus Reaganite of the race seemed rea- defender of the “three-legged stool” new free-trade agreements the “Reagan sonable at first. But according to the approach to coalition building. Both Zone of Economic Freedom.” Thomp- second-choice preferences of Thomp- portrayed themselves as defenders of son, who cast one of his final Senate son supporters in Florida, they were the “Reagan coalition” and vehemently votes to create the vast Department of more likely to support Romney’s chief rejected references to its demise from Homeland Security, has served up rival, John McCain, than they were to Ed Rollins, Mike Huckabee’s campaign warmed-over platitudes about federalism support the other main defender of the chair. and limited government, which are as “house that Reagan built.” The primary’s But before they cast themselves as sound in principle as they are removed results bore that out. twin guardians of Reagan’s inheritance, from what Republicans have done in Likewise, at the polls in every con- it is a pity that no one pointed out the Washington for the past ten years. Critics tested race except Romney’s native obvious: that trust had been squan- have assailed Romney for his lack of con- Michigan, voters have embraced the can- dered by the current administration viction, and others have attacked Thomp- didates, McCain and Huckabee, most long before Romney and Thompson son’s dour, uninspired campaigning, but explicitly unlike him and also most announced their intentions. these are not the principal reasons both unsatisfying to the party and movement Reagan reverie has been a powerful failed even in those contests in which leadership. In a way, it is strangely fitting factor in shaping coverage of the Repub- they made strong efforts to compete. that McCain should benefit from Thomp- lican contenders in the conservative The real problem with their nostalgia son’s exit, since the policies that have media. And the candidates’ failure to campaigns is that the Republican Party done the most in recent years to dyna- measure up to this mythologized stan- they have been trying to take over from mite the coalition Thompson hoped to dard has been a major cause of voters’ President Bush has changed several hold together were the two policies with dissatisfaction with the available times since it could reasonably be called which John McCain has most strongly choices. According to a Strategic Vision the “Reagan coalition.” Twenty-year-old identified himself: the war in Iraq and poll, three-quarters of Republican voters talking points no longer match the inter- amnesty for illegal immigrants. in a dozen early states wanted a nomi- ests and composition of most of the dif- Having largely abandoned prudence in nee in the “mold” of and ferent factions. The party has changed, government over the last seven years, saw that as something very different as have the policies embraced first by leading Republicans have been trying to from the office’s current occupant. the leaders of the coalition and then by tap into the memory of a time when con- Understandably, given the distorting their constituents. servatism, competence, and electoral and corrupting effects of the Bush After Thompson’s withdrawal, Rom- success co-existed for their party. As administration’s policies, the candidates ney acknowledged their common strat- Romney and Thompson have discovered, have been wrapping themselves in the egy: “He also was one of the other— however, no amount of longing for a past former president’s mantle at every probably the only one of the field—that era can undo the damage of recent years. opportunity, beginning at one of the first focused on pulling together the old Part of the pain of returning to what once debates of 2007 at the Reagan Presiden- Reagan coalition, if you will, the conser- was is the realization that it cannot be tial Library, in which Reagan’s name was vative coalition of social, economic, and summoned up again through mere invoked 19 times. foreign-policy conservatives. And so his words. It must be rebuilt.

LICENSED TO UNZ.ORGFebruary 11, 2008 The American Conservative 27 ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED