Who is the Most Electable GOP Candidate?

With five viable candidates remaining in the GOP race going into today’s primary in Michigan, I think it’s important to step back and ask ourselves who is the most electable candidate in the general election that we can live with in the fall. I know this may sound like too pragmatic of an approach, but we have no clear front-runner, no one who has excited all parts of the GOP apparatus. The next best thing is to look for the most electable candidate we can live with.

At this point in the race, my favorite candidate is Fred Thompson. He is the most conservative on all issues. Yeah, he may have done some legal work for a pro-choice group that his law firm at the time represented, but he has a solid conservative record while senator.

The problem is that his appeal is very limited. He’s not even gaining traction in states like South Carolina, where he should be a natural fit. This tells me that he is very shortly going to exit this race, barring a stunning turn-around in the SC primary.

My next favorite candidate is Mitt Romney. Mitt has all the right positions, though I still have some questions about his sincerity. In any case, he seems like a likable enough guy, and he is well-funded and well organized. Whatever happens in Michigan, he is able to go the distance.

The problem with Mitt is that he doesn’t really energize people. He may be “acceptable” to all wings of the Republican Party, but very few people are really “passionate” about him. This lack of enthusiasm doesn’t bode well for the general election. He would need to run against Hillary, hoping that the anti-Hillary vote will drive the enthusiasm, to have any chance of winning.

Rudy Guiliani has many good points. I believe that he could win in the fall, especially going up against Hillary, because he would take the fight to her. Rudy is probably the best candidate for the foreign policy conservatives and very good economically as well. The question for Rudy is how many social conservatives will just simply sit this election out if he is the nominee?

I know I personally would vote for him, but many evangelicals wouldn’t. If Obama was the nominee for the Democrats, many evangelicals may vote for him, since there would be no difference in their positions on the life and family issues. Rudy’s chances of success in this scenario would be slim. Therefore, I would not want to take the risk of making him the nominee.

Mike Huckabee is my least favorite of the five contenders. Is he electable? Maybe. He has charm and is very likable. He may very well be able to defeat either Democratic nominee. The problem is it would hardly matter. His positions are so liberal economically and in foreign policy, that he would radically change the face of the Republican Party.

This leaves us with Senator John Mccain. I don’t like this guy much, but he is the most electable candidate that I can live with. He has a consistent pro-life, pro-family record (although he’s never championed any of the social causes). He also is very good on foreign policy. His unwavering support of the troop surge in Iraq while many other Republicans ran for cover says a lot about his character. Like President Bush, he is willing to stand up on principle, regardless of the political price he might pay.

Economically, he is now for the extension of the Bush tax cuts. I’m not sure he’s totally sold on supply-side economics, but I think he is close enough to support. The biggest problem is his support of amnesty for illegal immigrants last year. He now says he will secure the borders first. I will have to give him the benefit of the doubt on that issue.

The clear benefit of Mccain is his appeal to independents. Though he has many conservative positions, independents still like him. The endorsement of Sen Joe Leiberman will help him greatly in the fall. I can see them campaigning together gathering support in the purple and blue states. There is one thing he must do to win, and that is pick a southern conservative to run with and shore up the base. Fred Thompson would be the ideal choice.

So today, for the good of the Republican Party, the conservative movement, and for a victory next fall, I (somewhat reluctantly) endorse the candidacy of Senator John Mccain. I believe that with the right choice of a running mate, he will win next fall and keep America moving (mostly) in the right direction.