Sen. John McCain came out on top in Florida after a bitter fight with chief rival Mitt Romney for the heavy delegate state that offered to add a major boost to the winning campaign before next week’s contests in over 20 states.
“It shows one thing. I’m the conservative leader who can unite the party,” McCain said after his Tuesday win, according to The Associated Press.
“It’s a very significant boost, but I think we’ve got a tough week ahead and a lot of states to come.”
The Arizona senator won 36 percent of the vote, compared to Romney’s 31 percent in a primary where winner takes all 57 delegates. In other states, delegates usually are divided among candidates according to percentage points.
McCain’s win cemented his status as the Republican frontrunner for the party’s nomination. He had previously won New Hampshire and South Carolina, while Romney captured Wyoming, Michigan and Nevada. Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee won the first contest state, Iowa.
Self-described moderate voters flocked to the McCain camp, who took 41 percent of voters in this category, compared to former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s 22 percent.
But perhaps more surprising was McCain’s close gains among voters who called themselves conservatives. Romney took 37 percent of conservative votes compared to McCain’s 27 percent.
Conservative radio talk show host, Bill Bennett, commented that McCain needs to reach out to the conservative wing of the party to maintain his frontrunner status and prepare for the general election.
“He is likely on his way to the nomination, but he has got to mend his fences with conservatives, because you do not want a convention with a lot of unhappy people,” said Bennett, who is also a CNN political analyst.
“The anger and bitterness at John McCain is extreme among a lot of conservatives.”
During the 2000 presidential race, McCain had called some conservative Christian leaders “agents of intolerance.”
But McCain seems to be making efforts to reconcile with conservatives, promising to appoint conservative judges to the federal bench. He also said Ronald Reagan inspired him to be a Republican.
“I am as proud today to be a Republican conservative as I was then,” he said during his acceptance speech Tuesday, according to CNN.
Yet conservative Christian organizations such as Focus on the Family and Family Research Council have repeatedly voiced hesitation and even frustration when it comes to McCain during their analysis of primary results.
They said that although McCain has a good record on the abortion issue, his support of embryonic stem cell research is frustrating. Some conservatives liken embryonic stem cell research to abortion because the embryo is destroyed during the extraction process.
“He [McCain] likes his reputation of a maverick, but we want someone we can depend on,” FRC president Tony Perkins said during a FOTF Citizenlink broadcast.
But an exit poll survey showed that abortion was not among the top issues in Florida. Rather, the economy was most important for nearly half of Republican voters. Next were terrorism, the war in Iraq and immigration, according to the poll conducted by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International for The Associated Press and the television networks.
The other GOP candidates trailed McCain and Romney in Florida. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani came in third at 15 percent, his best showing in the race so far, and will reportedly soon drop out of the race and endorse McCain, according to CNN sources.
Huckabee came in fourth at 14 percent and Texas Rep. Ron Paul was fifth and last.
On Feb. 5, or Super Tuesday, 21 states will hold Republican contests with a total of 1,023 delegates on the line.
Comments
What Church is Mr. Hucksterbee a pastor of? why did he make the the Judicial Watch top 10 most Corrupt politicians list for 2007. http://judicialwatch.org/judicial-watch-announces-list-washington-s-ten-most-wanted-corrupt-politicians-2007 <--( cut and paste this link and wake up others now! ) Did he really only spend 2 days in the seminary he said, he graduated from?? How much money did he allocate to planned parenthood for abortions when hw was Govenor of Arkansas??? You need to know the Answers , You need to seek the Truth; Wake up , WWW.SAVEAMERICANOW.COM & WWW.PRAYFORPAUL.COM & WWW.RONPAUL2008.COM God Bless You all ! In the name of Yeshua, Christ our Lord !
I think we can all rest assure that Mit is not the best choice:
http://massresistance.org/romney/
None of the canadates are good choices. Huckabee while generally conservative is way too soft on border issues for me. Romney is a flip flopper on social issues and McCainn is pragmatic to the enth degree. It's all about him and will do, say or be whatever he needs to be to be viewed possitively by as many as possible. If I had to chooseamong all it would be Guliani. At least you know what your gettting. Everyone else has a stealth quality that makes me uneasy. Right now if it's Romney or McCain, I will hold my nose ans say a prayer while voting republican this fall. I wish Regan was alive and could run again!
MCCAIN is no more a conservative than Barak Hussein Obama!!! He has betrayed the conservative cause in this country repeatedly, and snubbed his nose at the true conservatives. Now, he wants to be rewarded??? I don't think so. He's a RHINO - a Republican in name only. I won't vote for him, nor will I encourage others to vote for him. He cannot be trusted!!! Romney is far more equipped to handle the office, than this McCain. And actually...Ron Paul is the ONLY true conservative!!!
"Huckabee is the only front runner who showed up at the Value Voters 2008 Presidential Debate and who will champion the Federal Human Life and Marriage Amendments. It is time that Values Voters get serious about defending life and the institution of marriage. We have shed the blood of over 50,000,000 preborn children through abortion, and now face the undermining of traditional marriage that threatens the family, the most basic institution that upholds a society. Enough is enough. Values voters must vote for candidates that will defend life and the family. Mike Huckabee is the only frontrunner who will fight for these issues," Longworth argues.
Longworth laments, "For far too long, Christians stood idly and allowed our nation to slip into moral depravity. We stood by while creationism was replaced with Darwinism. We stood by while the Bible, prayer, and the Ten Commandments were removed from schools. We stood by while men, women, and children engaged in vile sexual perversion. We stood by while over 50,000,000 preborn children have been slaughtered by abortion. We stood by while Gov. Romney allowed homosexual marriage in Massachusetts. We stood by while the Ten Commandments were removed from public places. Edmond Burke said, 'All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.' We will stand by no longer. It is time for the church to stop playing church, and start being the church!"
I would like to vote for Huckabee, but he's not a strong candidate. As for the rest of them - Democrat and Republican - I don't like anyone. This is going to be a bad election for our country, especially since nobody seems to want to identify the cause of the terrorists' attacks - the Qur'an.
With Obama winning so much, I fear that he may end up as President. I know that we've been told ad nauseum that he's a Christian, but the 'pastor' of the 'church' he attends (Rev. Jeremiah Wright) repeatedly praises Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan (Wright calls Farrakhan a "pillar of integrity", says he "epitomizes greatness", and even gave him a "Lifetime Achievement Award" named after himself - even though Farrakhan calls whites "blue-eyed devils" and Jews "bloodsuckers"), and gives racist and anti-Israel sermons that sound like they are straight out of the Qur'an (he has said that "white America got what it had coming" in regard to the 9/11 attacks). A true Christian would remember that God blesses those who bless Israel, and curses those who curse Israel.
“The anger and bitterness at John McCain is extreme among a lot of conservatives.”
THAT is an UNDERSTATEMENT.
McCain has made the SAME pledge as Hillary Clinton to support murdering babies in the womb.
We will soon reach 500,000 children murdered in America.
STOP THE MURDER!!!!
Mitt Romney is going to be going into a tailspin pretty soon I suspect. He isn't able to with the Midwest or the South, and that is essential to win the General election.