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Home Front: Politix
Retired veterans: a key demographic
2008-01-30
Jim Geraghty, National Review's "Campaign Spot"

I think a lot of people will be echoing this conclusion from RedState's Erick Erickson:

Tonight was not a failure of conservatism, but a triumph of military voters who have made their home in the Republican Party because we are the party of a strong national defense.

In both South Carolina and Florida, they won it for McCain. In the grand coalition of the GOP, we've talked about social conservatives and fiscal conservatives. We've all ignored the military voters, except John McCain. And he won them big. His message resonated.

Slightly revised version, that ties into a particular book now found at fine remainder bins everywhere — McCain had the strongest credentials on national security in the field, and that's still the driving issue in Republican primaries - not by a wide margin, but by enough.

Romney could offer as many national security proposals as he wanted — double Guantanamo, etc. — but in the end, his biography didn't offer enough opportunities to say, "this guy knows how to fight in a dangerous world." Running the first post-9/11 Olympics was nice, metaphorically flipping the bird to the Iranians when they wanted a state police escort — all of this is nice, but none of this competes with a man who begins his campaign video with North Vietnamese propaganda footage of the candidate tersely giving his name to an interrogator.

Giuliani had his own strengths, but as mentioned elsewhere, he wasn't a key player in the fight in Iowa. Or New Hampshire. Or Michigan. Or South Carolina. Or Wyoming or Nevada or anywhere else until tonight, and in the end, there was a smidgen of momentum from the early races. After each one, Republicans had to weigh the strengths of Huckabee, McCain, and Romney. For a month, no Republican had to think seriously about the upsides and downsides of a President Giuliani.
Posted by:Mike

#3  OS, the truly sad thing is that many mil (ret.) voters are for McCain simply based on his 'Nam cred & his surge stance. They don't take into account that 60% of the things he's voted for or against since has hurt them & this country.
Posted by: Broadhead6   2008-01-30 22:34  

#2  The boomer generation screws the GOP over again.
Posted by: OldSpook   2008-01-30 14:50  

#1  Retired veterans: a growing demographic, especially when one adds in family and friends. This will affect both parties for at least a generation, especially as most will weigh the War on Terror as higher priority than social or fiscal conservatism.
Posted by: trailing wife   2008-01-30 11:40  

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