Wednesday, August 12, 2008

A balancing act

McCain juggles bipartisanship, conservative pitch in York

By CHRIS A. COUROGEN

John McCain spent much of Tuesday's town-hall meeting in York preaching from the gospel of bipartisanship.

With U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman -- the Connecticut Independent was Al Gore's running mate as a Democrat eight years ago -- riding shotgun, McCain talked about working with Democrats to solve problems. He had kind words for Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Edward M. Kennedy.

"I have a record of reaching across the aisle and working with my friends, whether it be Joe Lieberman or Ted Kennedy," McCain said. He also was accompanied by Sen. Arlen Specter, the moderate Pennsylvania Republican, and former Republican Gov. Tom Ridge.

"Americans are tired of partisanship. They want us to work together for America in a bipartisan fashion," he said.

Then a woman in the audience asked if he will be "a passionate conservative" to fight "socialist Obama and the Democrats." Bipartisanship went out door with McCain's one-word answer: "Yes."

McCain promised to appoint conservative judges "who have a clear record of strict adherence to the Constitution of the United States and who do not believe in legislating from the bench."

Moments later, he was right back in the middle, telling the crowd "we will fix Social Security, and we will do it in a bipartisan fashion."

It's a balancing act McCain must perfect if he is to win in Pennsylvania, a state the campaign has repeatedly cited as crucial to his chances in November.

"That is the dilemma [McCain] is in," said G. Terry Madonna, director of the Center for Politics and Public Affairs at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster. "He needs social conservatives to rally to his cause. They are the bulwark of the party. But he has to attract the middle."

McCain also voiced support for gun rights, school choice and national security. He got his most enthusiastic reaction when he said it was time to "drill offshore and drill now."

He kept returning to the middle, tossing out lines such as: "If we're going to solve America's problems, we have to sit down together."

"I think he is saying what he has to say to reach out to independent voters," retired Navy commander Dave Santoro of Hanover said. "I hope his heart is conservative."

Santoro said he hopes it is not the other way around -- McCain the Independent saying what he needs to get the conservatives to vote for him. Either way, Santoro sees no other choice.

"There really isn't an alternative," Santoro said.

As Barb Thomas of Hanover said, "For a number of conservatives, it's really about voting against Obama."

That might be part of McCain's strategy.

"There are two ways he can get the right out to vote. One is to show his conservative stripes. The other is to make Obama so unacceptable to the right that they will come out to vote against Obama," said Chris Borick, director of Muhlenberg College's Institute of Public Opinion.

If you missed McCain's York appearance, you could get plenty of other chances to see him between now and November. McCain told the crowd Pennsylvania is a key state and vowed to "campaign hard across this state."

CHRIS A. COUROGEN: 255-8112 or ccourogen@patriot-news.com