Bush And Mccain Essay, Research Paper
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McCain?s 44.
Alan Keyes garnered just 3 percent.
Exit polls show that? as in this year?s
earlier GOP contests? Bush continues
to outperform McCain among Republican voters. While
McCain rode to an upset win in Michigan last week on a
surge of support from Democratic and independent
voters, Virginia?s requirement that voters sign a pledge of
loyalty to the GOP kept Democrats away from this open
primary.
?The voters of Virginia rejected the politics of pitting
one religion against another,? Bush said in a swipe at
McCain. ?This campaign is winning and we?re doing it the
right way. We are uniting our party without abandoning
our principles. We are expanding our base without
destroying our foundations.?
McCain called Bush and congratulated him on his
victory, but said Bush?s strategy seems dependent on
southern states and predicted it will have no impact on the
upcoming coast-to-coast battles a week from tonight on
Super Tuesday.
Looking Forward
But there was troubling news for McCain?s national
campaign in the Virginia exit polls, which show him being
trounced 71 percent to 25 percent by Bush among
Republicans? who made up nearly two-thirds of the
electorate.
Realizing his need to make inroads with Republicans,
McCain has been playing up his conservative credentials.
But his poor showing in Virginia does not bode well for
California?s critically important primary next Tuesday. A
new poll shows McCain trailing Bush by 20 points among
Republicans in the Golden State.
Winning Virginia will deliver Bush all 56 of the state?s
delegates to the presidential nominating convention this
summer. Turnout is up from the 1996 GOP Senate
primary, the most recent turnout measure available since
the last Virginia presidential primary was held in 1988.
Bush also picked up delegates tonight with a win in the
North Dakota caucuses. Polls remain open in Washington
state until 11 p.m. ET. The Democratic candidates? Al
Gore and Bill Bradley? also square off today in a
primary ?beauty contest? in Washington state.
Bush was well-positioned to win in Virginia and
anything less than a solid victory would have been seen as
a loss after his defeat in Michigan. The solid showing also
was a victory for Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore, who
spearheaded the Bush effort in the state. Bush
campaigned vigorously in Virginia while McCain, who
initially intended to skip the contest altogether, mounted
only a last-minute effort. The Bush campaign, which
acknowledges spending about $1.9 million on advertising
in Virginia, estimates that McCain spent about about $1
million.
But the McCain campaign never had high hopes for
Virginia and may have been using the state as a foil to
show off his willingness to take tough stands as he goes
into more moderate states like California, Ohio and New
York next week.
The Arizona senator took a number of positions that
were unpopular with Virginians, calling for higher cigarette
taxes and an increase in the number of flights into Reagan
National Airport in Northern Virginia. Finally, McCain
lashed out at leaders of the religious right movement,
calling them ?agents of intolerance? as he slammed Bush
for ?pandering to the outer reaches of American politics.?
Many Christian conservative organizations are
headquartered in Virginia and worked hard to rally
support for Bush. In turn, McCain?s support among
religious right voters was down to just one in 10 voters. In
Michigan and South Carolina, McCain was supported by
about a quarter of those voters. A