Ground Game

Bloggers from both sides of the aisle are today attempting to measure what impact Lieberman’s McCain endorsement will have on the presidential primaries.

McCain has previously joked that the media is “my base.” But McCain’s Kool-Aid Club went from decidedly “Ohhh yeah!” to “Ohhh No!” after they realized he was in fact a conservative Republican who continues to support the Iraq war and was actively cultivating evangelical voters.

At the same time, the conservative establishment has continued to largely shun McCain, despite his record as one of the few remaining credible proponents of the war with a conservative record on taxes and spending. Moderate/pro-change conservatives are certainly warming to the McCain notion, and there’s a trickle of evidence that the online opposition to McCain’s candidacy may be softening as the search for a nominee nears its end point.

The Weekly Standard’s Fred Barnes says:

Things large and small in the campaign have been moving McCain's way. The war in Iraq has turned sharply toward victory now that President Bush has adopted the strategy McCain had been recommending for several years. This is McCain's best issue and now a distinct plus for his campaign. And the immigration issue, a poisonous one for McCain, has become less intense since his immigrant-friendly approach lost in the Senate last summer.

Over at Townhall.com, Mary Katherine Ham writes:

I've been noticing among conservative acquaintances, a reconsideration of McCain going on that none of them would have considered this summer.

With the rest of the non-Huckabee GOP field seemingly floundering, Ham continues:

Who's left? An experienced senator who's potent in a general election if he can get past the primary, and who's great on the war and good on spending. Oh yeah, and whom they've all actively disliked for several years for preening to the press, bringing Campaign Finance Reform upon us, and being wrong on immigration and sometimes snide about it.

Nonetheless, they're considering it. Quite a statement about the immense discontent with the Republican candidates. And, it tells me that if he's being reconsidered among some of my staunchly conservative friends predisposed to actively dislike him, he's got a damn sight more voters reconsidering him in Maverick-friendly New Hampshire in these crucial couple of weeks.

CBN’s David Brody says endorsements are all find and good:

But what may be even more important is the narrative that is beginning to form. That narrative is that while Romney, Giuliani, Thompson and Huckabee duke it out, McCain continues to stay above the fray… that he’s become the elder statesman and the voice of reason on the war. Combine that with this idea out there that McCain may be the one to bring both political parties together and maybe it will be John McCain who becomes the 2008 version of “The Comeback Kid”.