John McCain: Stuck in the Middle

I am always intrigued whenever any candidate is being attacked by two divergent extremes all at once. That appears to be what is happening to John McCain right now. John McCain's feud with the so called Conservative establishment has been well documented and even by me. I believe that the noise which the establishment is creating against McCain is a lot more significant than its effectiveness. The reason is simple. If McCain really had so much difficulty with true blue conservatives, he wouldn't be doing as well as he is right now in the primary. While the so called establishment stomps their feet, it appears that the general voting conservative doesn't have nearly as many problems. While Rush, Ann Coulter, Hannity, et al fume and scream about McCain's lack of conservative credentials, this message seems to generally be falling on deaf ears because he continues to rack up victories in a primary heavy with the exact people they are supposed to be influencing. Still the Conservative establishment is trying their damdest to paint McCain as a liberal out of the mainstream of Republican voters.

This brings me to this email that I received from Howard Dean of the DNC...

John McCain is a media darling, but don't trust his carefully-crafted image - he's worked for years to brand himself. From Iraq to health care, Social Security to special interest tax cuts to ethics, he's promising nothing more than a third Bush term.

After championing campaign finance reform and ethics legislation to score political points, he now has a staggering amount of lobbyists involved in every aspect of his campaign. In fact, two of the top three sources for John McCain's campaign cash are D.C. lobbying firms, and he looked the other way as Jack Abramoff bought and paid for the Republican Party and the Culture of Corruption.

On immigration reform, he's run as far to the right as he can, aligning himself with the most extreme elements of the Republican Party.

On the war, McCain scoffed at Bush's call to leave troops in Iraq for 50 years, saying "Make it a hundred!"

On a woman's right to choose, McCain has vowed to appoint judges who would overturn Roe v. Wade.

On the economy, one of the issues that the American people care most about, McCain has said: "I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues. I still need to be educated."

We can't afford four more years with a President who drives the economy into the ground. We can't afford four more years with a President who fights an endless war in Iraq. We can't afford four more years with a President who gives tax cuts to companies who ship jobs overseas; with a President who can't get every American the health care they deserve; with a President we just can't trust.

It's important to note that I receive emails from the DNC (and the RNC for that matter) because I am a political junkie not because I am of that persuasion. This is important because the DNC may try and paint McCain as some sort of rabid right winger to their base and something else to the rest of the public. Still, it is clear that simultaneously while the Conservative establishment paints McCain as a liberal, the Democratic establishment is painting him as a right winger.

I believe that good politicians find a way to use their enemies to their advantage. Frankly, having both extremes against you at once is a dream in a general election. If both extremes are calling you too extreme the other way, then it is easy to paint yourself as the moderate. The rule of thumb is always to run to the base in the primary and then to the middle in the general election. That is no easy task since it requires the candidate to take divergent positions on issues only months apart. If the two establishments continue to simultaneously paint McCain is an extremist of the opposite persuasion, he won't have to do any work at all to accomplish this goal.

Furthermore, while they are battling it out to try and define him first, they will only create natural allies for McCain with the opposite voting blocs. In other words, if Dean et al try and paint him as too far right, it will only endear him to a conservative base that is likely still unsure and distrustful of McCain. At the same time, if Rush et al is painting him as too liberal, he will likely create new moderate and liberal allied voting blocs. I don't know if Ann Coulter is serious about campaigning for Hillary, but frankly if she does, she would create priceless free publicity for McCain. Coulter's stomping had little effect on the Republican base in the primaries, and would only have negative effect for Hillary in the general election. While Coulter is successful and marketable, she convinces no one that isn't already convinced. The only thing a Coulter endorsement would do is turn off the moderates both Hillary and McCain are vying for.

Elections are a tricky thing and lots can happen between now and the general election, however if we continue to see both extremes simultaneously painting McCain as the extremist, then McCain really can't ask for any better free advertising.