Opinion: McCain absence annoys some at GOP gathering

Sat, Jun. 14, 2008

McCain absence annoys some at GOP gathering
By BUD KENNEDYStar-Telegram staff writer
HOUSTON -- John McCain is ignoring 7,000 Texas Republicans this weekend.

Some of them are returning the favor.

Instead of speaking to the state party convention this weekend, McCain will come to Texas on Monday to raise money at a Dallas barbecue.

"Where is he?" asked Sara Fischer, 31, of Mansfield, brushing past a volunteer futilely trying to pass out McCain lapel stickers.

"I didn't support McCain," she said. "But I have to now. He's our candidate. It seems like he should be here."

Inside the exhibit hall, the McCain T-shirts at one souvenir stand were marked down from $15 to $8 -- two for $15.

At the door, campaign volunteer Hector Medina, 26, of San Antonio waved McCain stickers as delegates streamed past.

"Some Republicans aren't very excited," said Medina, an Army recruit leaving Monday for basic training. "They just say, 'He's not my guy.'"

McCain is not snubbing the entire state. Besides coming to Dallas and Midland on Monday, he'll go to Houston on Tuesday for what is billed as a major speech on energy policy.

But today, he's somewhere hosting a telephone town hall meeting at cityhall.johnmccain.com.

That could originate anywhere. They have phones now in Houston.

"The senator is looking forward to coming to Texas Monday, and he will be delivering a major policy speech," said McCain spokesman Jeff Sadosky, returning a call.

Keynote speaker and former presidential candidate Mitt Romney of Massachusetts was authorized to represent McCain at the convention, along with former candidate and Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Sadosky said.

Republican state Rep. Phil King of Weatherford helped lead the Texas presidential campaign for Huckabee, who was loudly applauded for a down-home speech Friday afternoon.

"I'm really surprised that McCain's not here," King said. "I've always been told that this is the largest gathering of Republicans in the country. I'm taken aback."

(Sometimes, Texas' convention outdraws the national event.)

King went over the case for McCain: "He's very strongly pro-life. He's strong on defense. I feel confident in his Supreme Court nominees. But he's not as strong on immigration as I want and not the fiscal conservative we need."

U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Flower Mound, an obstetrician, is helping write McCain's healthcare platform.

"The reality is, his campaign needs are greater in other places," Burgess said. "Texas' vote is probably not a question mark."

One recent poll showed McCain winning Texas with 52 percent to 39 for Democratic nominee Barack Obama. But McCain might lose the 5 percent of Texas Republicans who supported the presidential candidacy of maverick U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas.

Fischer, the conventioneer who didn't want a McCain sticker, said she supported Huckabee.

"Huckabee is funny," she said. "He's seems like my dad. McCain seems like the old uncle that you have to bring to holiday parties."

Her biggest complaint is that she hasn't seen enough of McCain. The extended Democratic campaign has resulted in two months of free publicity for Obama.

"Obama is a much more appealing candidate to people my age," she said. "He has better ads and better music. ... McCain hasn't been on TV at all. I really don't know anything about him, except that he was in Vietnam."

And that he wasn't in Texas.

bud@star-telegram.com
Bud Kennedy's column appears Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. 817-390-7538
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