Monday, April 12, 2010

The Daily Caller: McCain should run as an Independent

Good article in The Daily Caller suggesting that due to McCain's liberal record and the Tea Party opposition against him, he should switch parties like his friend Joe Lieberman did and run as an Independent, not a Republican. He already has former staff working on Independent campaigns. Some excerpts -

McCain....may choose to run as an Independent if the Tea Partiers come out against him and his lead vanishes as a result. For a number of reasons, that possibility is not as far-fetched as one would think.

For one thing, it suits McCain’s temperament, and would be in keeping with his reputation as a maverick, which for some reason he recently downplayed in an interview with Newsweek but, in fact, has admirably demonstrated throughout his career. It would also be consistent with the example set by his political ally in the Senate, Joe Lieberman, who ran and won as an Independent after being defeated by liberal Ned Lamont in the Connecticut Democratic primary in 2006.

Beyond this, running as an independent would be in keeping with the example set by McCain’s political hero, Theodore Roosevelt, who bolted the Republican Party when he was denied the GOP nomination in 1912 and ran for President on the Bull Moose ticket that year. Roosevelt lost his bid to return to the White House, but his decision to press on in the face of adversity no doubt holds some appeal for McCain, who has never been afraid to go it alone in pursuit of a cause in which he believes.
Of course, McCain wouldn’t be alone if he were to undertake such an effort. He has a group of longtime staff members who would be right by his side. In this regard, it should be noted that two of these staff members – his former Chief of Staff Mark Salter and his former strategist John Weaver – are currently working on Independent Tim Cahill’s campaign to become Governor of Massachusetts. If McCain needs guidance on how to run as a third party candidate, he would not have to look any further than these two loyalists and veteran political hands.





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