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Sam Brownback, We Hardly Knew Ye
By Bill | October 18, 2007 | Email This Post
…or maybe we did; either could be the problem. Regardless, the public failed to offer their financial support to Sam Brownback, and now the Associated Press is reporting that the candidate will announce his withdrawal from the race tomorrow. Brownback’s official web site has not posted an announcement as I write this (though it does seem to have become increasingly product-placement oriented, with an ad for Brownback’s book, From Purpose to Power, taking up at least a quarter of the page.)
An adviser of Brownback’s believes part of the reason for the lack of support is because Brownback is splitting the religious conservative vote with Huckabee. I wonder if that’s an accurate assessment; I don’t get the sense that that community is exactly on fire for either Huckabee or Brownback, and even if they were, would it matter? Can anything be read into the struggles that both candidates have had in turning the support of the religious right into meaningful poll numbers and votes? Remember, this is the bloc that, twenty years ago, propelled Pat Robertson to a second place finish in the Iowa caucuses, putting him ahead of eventual President George Bush (the elder.) Have we come to a point where, although still vocal, that religious conservatives constitute just another group in a list of organizations whose support is nice-to-have, but that cannot dictate the contents of a party’s platform? My guess is that is the case… for this election, at least. That could bode well for Giuliani, who has failed to find favor with the social right because of his previous stands on abortion and homosexual rights.
The other, less meaningful but more pointed question that immediately arises is, did Brownback ever have a chance to win the nomination? That one’s easier to answer: no, he did not. And did he succeed in bringing social conservative issues to the forefront, which might have been the other reason for his entry in the race? The evidence from his campaign coffers gives a “no” to that question, as well.
Topics: Sam Brownback |