The independent
label sticks to John McCain because he antagonizes fellow
Republicans and likes to work with Democrats.
But a different
label applies to his actual record: conservative.
The likely
Republican presidential nominee is much more conservative
than voters appear to realize. McCain leans to the
right on issue after issue, not just on the Iraq war
but also on abortion, gay rights, gun control and
other issues that matter to his party's social
conservatives.
The four-term
Arizona senator, a longtime member of the Armed Services
Committee, criticized the earlier handling of the war but
has been a crucial ally in President Bush's effort to
increase and maintain U.S. forces in Iraq.
Besides the war,
McCain agrees broadly with Bush and other conservatives
on:
-Abortion.
McCain promises to appoint judges who, in the mold of
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, are likely to
limit the reach of the Roe v. Wade decision that
legalized abortion. McCain's record is not spotless on
abortion: He said once, in 1999, that Roe v. Wade should not
be overturned.
But that was an
aberration in an otherwise unbroken record of opposing
abortion rights for women. McCain voted repeatedly to ban
federal funding for abortion; he once voted against
Medicaid funds for abortion even in cases of rape or
incest.
He voted to
require parental consent for abortion and voted to
criminalize anyone but a parent crossing state lines with a
minor to help get an abortion. McCain also supported a
ban preventing women in the military from getting
abortions with their own money at overseas military
hospitals.
''I am pro-life
and an advocate for the rights of man everywhere in the
world,'' McCain told the Conservative Political Action
Conference in February. ''Because to be denied liberty
is an offense to nature and nature's Creator.''
-Gay
rights. McCain opposes gay marriage. True, he does not
support a federal ban on gay marriage on grounds the
issue traditionally has been decided by states. But
McCain worked to ban gay marriage in Arizona. He also
supports the military's ''don't ask, don't tell'' policy,
and he opposed legislation to protect gay people from
job discrimination or hate crimes.
''I'm proud to
have led an effort in my home state to change our state
constitution and to protect the sanctity of marriage as
between a man and woman,'' he told CNN in March. ''I
will continue to advocate for those fundamental
principals of our party and our faith.''
-Gun
control. McCain voted against a ban on assault-style weapons
and for shielding gun-makers and dealers from civil
suits. He did vote in favor of requiring background
checks at gun shows, but in general he sides with the
National Rifle Association in favor of gun rights.
When the Supreme
Court held arguments last month on Washington, D.C.'s
handgun ban, McCain said it was ''a landmark case for all
Americans who believe, as I do, that the Second
Amendment guarantees an individual right to keep and
bear arms.''
His conservatism
could be a problem for McCain _ particularly if this
November's contest is as close as recent presidential
elections, which were decided by independent-minded
voters in the center of the political spectrum.
But he might
avoid this problem to the extent people know him as an
independent-minded politician. And many do view him that
way.
''People see him
as a centrist. They don't see him as a conservative,''
said Andrew Kohut, president of the Pew Research Center for
the People and the Press.
''In fact, they
put him pretty close to themselves, in terms of ideology,
and put President Bush way to the right of themselves,''
Kohut said.
In a national Pew
survey earlier this year, voters placed McCain in the
middle, where they placed themselves, when asked to judge
the ideology of Bush and the presidential candidates.
They placed Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama
far to the left.
And voters who
back Clinton and Obama are open to McCain.
Nearly a third of
Clinton supporters said they would back McCain if Obama
becomes the Democratic nominee, and more than a quarter of
Obama supporters said they would back McCain over
Clinton, according to Associated Press-Ipsos polling
released Thursday.
Democrats are
trying to change the perception of McCain. The Democratic
National Committee insists that McCain's election would
amount to a third term for Bush and Vice President
Dick Cheney.
''All he offers
is four more years of the failed Bush economy, an endless
war in Iraq and shameless hypocrisy on ethics reform,'' DNC
Chairman Howard Dean said last month.
Whatever the
general image of McCain, the Christian right is deeply
suspicious of him despite his many conservative positions.
McCain has clashed with its leaders. He called
televangelists Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell
''agents of intolerance'' and has often worked against
them.
He splits from
the right over research which extracts stem cells from
human embryos in an effort to develop treatments for
Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and a range of other
diseases. Conservatives object because human embryos
are destroyed; McCain supports the research.
His record
offends not only social conservatives but many fiscal
conservatives, too. He pushed to limit the influence of
money in politics through campaign finance reforms
that, critics say, stomp on the constitutional right
to free speech.
He backs a path
to citizenship for illegal immigrants, which many of his
party's most conservative members oppose.
Polls indicate
McCain has the same level of GOP support as Bush had at
this point in 2000. But some insist he still isn't reaching
out to rank-and-file conservatives who are needed to
lick envelopes, make phone calls and knock on doors in
states where the election is likely to be close.
On the right and
across the political spectrum, McCain's image, rather
than his positions on issues, seems to form people's opinion
of him. Indeed, in choosing presidents, voters often
look past issues to character and personality, and
most individual issues are unlikely to mean much.
But one broader
issue could figure prominently in November -- the
tumbling economy and consequent job losses, home
foreclosures and soaring energy prices.
Those could prove
troublesome for McCain, and not only because he
acknowledges he's no economic expert.
''We are surely
in a time of deep economic insecurity for a majority of
the American people,'' said Curtis Gans, director of
American University's Center for the Study of the
American Electorate. ''That has always led to two
things: somewhat higher turnout, and votes against the
party in power.''
''We are also in
a deeply unpopular war,'' Gans said. ''Where there are
these differences, and strong differences, they could be in
the Democrats' direction.'' (Libby Quaid, AP)