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Posted Mar 29th 2007 8:16AM by NixGuy
Filed under: President 2008, Republicans, John McCain
That's what former Majority Leader Tom Daschle and ex-rep Tom Downey say. And if it's true, McCain's campaign for the GOP nomination is over. I can't emphasize that enough. Jim Jeffords is still persona-non-grata in GOP circles and labels like "Benedict Arnold" are routinely thrown in his direction.
According to Downey and Daschle, a McCain staffer, Tom Weaver, came to them and asked why they hadn't approached McCain about switching parties shortly after the 2000 election, and things developed quickly from there:
Daschle said that throughout April and May of 2001, he and McCain "had meetings and conversations on the floor and in his office, I think in mine as well, about how we would do it, what the conditions would be. We talked about committees and his seniority ... [A lot of issues] were on the table."
Naturally, McCain denies it. Reading the whole article, there appear to be a lot of small nuances to this, including some differences between a Daschle staffer and Daschle himself.It seems to me that there are two possibilities, both of which are extremely interesting. First is that McCain really did negotiate to leave the GOP but either thought better of it, or couldn't reach a deal. If true, it's going to deep-six his campaign forever and for good. GOP voters will not elect someone who negotiated to give control of the senate to the Democrats for personal gain (like committee assignments).
The second possibility is that Tom Daschle and friends are putting more into their talks than was ever actually there, knowing it would kill McCain's chances at the presidency. In that case, is the strategy to take out one of the GOP's strong candidates in order to clear the way for Rudy or Romney? Do the Democrats see those guys as more vulnerable in the general? If so, it's an obviously flawed analysis. It's more likely that McCain really did more than think about leaving the GOP.
Filed under: President 2008, Republicans, John McCain
That's what former Majority Leader Tom Daschle and ex-rep Tom Downey say. And if it's true, McCain's campaign for the GOP nomination is over. I can't emphasize that enough. Jim Jeffords is still persona-non-grata in GOP circles and labels like "Benedict Arnold" are routinely thrown in his direction.
According to Downey and Daschle, a McCain staffer, Tom Weaver, came to them and asked why they hadn't approached McCain about switching parties shortly after the 2000 election, and things developed quickly from there:
Daschle said that throughout April and May of 2001, he and McCain "had meetings and conversations on the floor and in his office, I think in mine as well, about how we would do it, what the conditions would be. We talked about committees and his seniority ... [A lot of issues] were on the table."
Naturally, McCain denies it. Reading the whole article, there appear to be a lot of small nuances to this, including some differences between a Daschle staffer and Daschle himself.It seems to me that there are two possibilities, both of which are extremely interesting. First is that McCain really did negotiate to leave the GOP but either thought better of it, or couldn't reach a deal. If true, it's going to deep-six his campaign forever and for good. GOP voters will not elect someone who negotiated to give control of the senate to the Democrats for personal gain (like committee assignments).
The second possibility is that Tom Daschle and friends are putting more into their talks than was ever actually there, knowing it would kill McCain's chances at the presidency. In that case, is the strategy to take out one of the GOP's strong candidates in order to clear the way for Rudy or Romney? Do the Democrats see those guys as more vulnerable in the general? If so, it's an obviously flawed analysis. It's more likely that McCain really did more than think about leaving the GOP.