Word: base
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Good news! The Christian conservative base of the GOP rallied to Palin's support, proud of the family's commitment to pro-life principles...
...McCain accomplished a rare feat for a Republican candidate Friday, packing a 12,000-seat basketball stadium with cheering supporters dancing to rock music and waving glow sticks. And in selecting Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate, he chose someone who energized the dissolute Republican Party's activist base, and has already helped convince former foes like Focus on The Family's James Dobson to vote for McCain. But perhaps most importantly, McCain's bold move transformed the campaign of a 72-year-old white man into a potential cause-celeb for independent women, who will play a crucial...
Some argue that McCain needs to use this convention to shore up the Republican base, and that all this namby-pamby stuff will turn off the rank and file. It is true that after years of maverick behavior, McCain will be in the ironic position of having many of his longtime political enemies staring back at him from the convention floor. The creative-destructive caucus in the GOP is small, however, and few crave victory at the cost of self-immolation. And the prospect of an Obama-Pelosi diktat in Washington is enough to make even the most McCain-hating...
...attract votes beyond the base, McCain's convention must trumpet his peerless credentials as a reformer. He must engage passionately on middle-class economic issues. McCain's comfort zone may be world affairs, but if he cannot hold his own in a kitchen-table debate with Obama on jobs, schools and health care, he'll visit ticket-splitting kitchens once more on Election Day, but this time as toast. Finally, he must give the convention speech of a lifetime...
Then there's the surprise category, featuring Joe Lieberman and, making a late appearance in the Veepstakes, Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. Sources close to the campaign and the candidate say that if McCain could make his decision based solely on what he wants, he'd go with Lieberman, the Democratic-turned-independent Senator from Connecticut who served as Al Gore's running mate in 2000. Picking Lieberman, however, would be a huge gamble for McCain. Social conservatives, having only recently come to terms with McCain himself, would loudly oppose the selection of a pro-choice New Englander...