Sioux City Journal, IA
03-17-07
Conservatives struggle to find candidate
By Sean J. Miller Lee Enterprises correspondent
Democrats aren't the only ones struggling to find the right candidate to nominate
for the 2008 presidential election.
Conservative Republicans, who formed the base of President Bush's two
electoral victories, are expressing uneasiness with the field of candidates. "I've
never seen a race where people are more up in the air (in terms of) where they
might gravitate," said Steve Scheffler, president of the Iowa Christian Alliance
(ICA), a non-profit group that promotes Christian values.
Observers say conservative Republicans will have to decide between supporting
the candidate who promotes their views -- like the little known, but strongly
conservative Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback -- and supporting a candidate they
think could win a general election.
"There is no perfect candidate out there," Scheffler said. "That's why they're still
searching."
The current front-runners for the GOP nomination, Arizona Sen. John McCain,
former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt
Romney have all expressed views on issues like gay marriage and abortion that
are contrary to those held by groups like ICA.
"It's not that (conservatives) want to play hard to catch," said Scheffler, whose
organization doesn't endorse candidates but will release a voters' guide in the
fall. They just aren't hearing what they want from the Republican front-runners.
Members of the ICA are looking for a candidate who will appoint a "strict
constructionist" judge, in the mold of Antonin Scalia, to the Supreme Court,
Scheffler said. "They're going to want to be convinced in their heart of hearts that
that's going to happen."
Republican candidates in the past have not made good on their campaign
promises to conservative Christian voters, he said. ICA members are looking for
someone "who is willing to not just tell us just what we want to hear but willing to
carry that agenda into the public sphere."
Whether a candidate can win in a general election is also a concern.
"Some people look at electablility. But there's going to have to be a balance.
They're going to have to carry the water, too," Sheffler said.
Tim Frank, a Republican strategist who ran Bill Northey's campaign for Iowa
Secretary of Agriculture, said there's currently a struggle happening between the
moderate and conservative wings of the party.
"The moderate part of the Republican party is really twisting arms to get their
candidates going," said Frank, who has signed on to Brownback's campaign.
Romney has made friends by donating to local campaigns in primary states, like
Northey's, he said. "That helps people like him in the beginning."
"Sen. John McCain is really going to fade out of this thing," he added "In Iowa
he's not going to play at all."
When it comes down to it, Frank said, "Iowans are going to vote for their views,"
and not just look for a candidate who they think can win the general election.
Steffen Schmidt, a political commentator and professor at Iowa State
University, said that conservative voters will have to decide if they can tolerate
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in the White House as opposed to supporting an
imperfect Republican candidate.
"The Republican Party is undergoing a re-examination of itself," he said. "A lot of
people are concerned about electability, and they're calculating which of these
guys can get a majority of the electorate."
A conservative candidate like Brownback "may be perfect, but if they're going to
lose in a landslide, that's going to be much worse for (their cause)," he said. "If
they want to draw the line in the sand that narrowly, they're never going to win."
Schmidt said he believes the current field of Republican candidates each appeal
to a different part of the party.
"It's going to be messy," Schmidt said.
Sean Miller can be reached at (202) 487-8758 or at sjlmiller@gmail.com