Friday, February 08, 2008

CPAC: All of the Above   [Stanley Kurtz]

Here are a two different reports from yesterday’s McCain speech that seem consistent of an "all of the above" theory of the audience. Both reports speak of there being a good number of McCain supporters salted around the room. Yet there were also many others present who were not squarely in the McCain camp. Some were Romney supporters who had "quickly swapped out their Romney regalia for McCain gear" and slipped back into the hall after Romney’s withdrawal. So some of the young folks holding up McCain signs were not plants but Romney fans who had coalesced around McCain after Romney pulled out. And there was also apparently another group of Romney supporters so devastated by the withdrawal that they didn’t bother returning to the room. Notwithstanding the numerous die-hard McCain faithful present, a significant number of others who weren’t squarely in the McCain camp responded differently to different parts of the speech. There were many boos on immigration, but cheers especially on national security issues, even from audience members who were McCain skeptics. So again, when it comes to the question of "packing" versus a genuine warming to McCain on the part of a broader crowd, it looks like the answer is "all of the above."

02/08 07:37 AMShare