Who's Conservative Enough to be President

The upcoming election is shaping up to be a bit disappointing for the Republicans. Their current candidates include McCain, a moderate Republican who passed campaign finance reform, Guilliani, pro- choice and open to the idea of Gay rights, and Mitt Romney, a Mormon nobodies ever heard of. What's a conservative to do?

Well Robert Novak's latest column he tracks this frustration on the part of the Republican base quite effectively.

At the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) attracting right-wingers nationwide to Washington this weekend, Citizens United will distribute a 23-page attack on McCain. "He's no Ronald Reagan," it begins, and concludes: "John McCain is not a conservative." (McCain is the only announced Republican presidential hopeful not scheduled to speak at CPAC.) Simultaneously, McCain operatives are putting out material that depicts Giuliani riding into City Hall on the shoulders of the New York Liberal Party as a throwback to the old Tammany Hall Democratic machine.

It is hardly too late for such negative campaigning to tear down Republican front-runners because of inadequate conservative credentials.

I wonder how much of this is a factor of starting the race too early - what is there for the candidates to talk about 22 months before the election except about how their fellow candidates aren't really conservative at all.

At any rate Novak makes the point that if a real Conservative walks into the race (such as Gingrich) he would have a huge advantage. Makes sense that such a candidate would do well in the primary; but what about the general election?