I Want a Winner!

EJ Dionne pointed out today the difficult road that John McCain still must travel if he is to claim the GOP presidential nomination. After spending the morning at Blogs for Life, one line stood out for me:

"Even though McCain has long opposed abortion, he ran strongly [in South Carolina] among voters who favor keeping it legal. He lost among those who would outlaw it."

Sam Brownback, the Kansas Republican, told the bloggers that he hopes the next president will be pro-life, and reminded them that he had hoped to be that person. "It doesn’t look good for me right now," he said in a bit of Kansas deadpan, his campaign long folded.

When Brownback was quizzed about his decision to throw his support to John McCain, he tried hard to reassure the roomful of activists—including many who like their candidates to talk a bit more about social issues, and a bit less about national security—that McCain is really on their side. Brownback reported that McCain had assured him he is committed to nominating judges like John Roberts and Samuel Alito who would, in the preferred conservative phrasing, "strictly interpret the Constitution."

Without naming names, Brownback also seemed to warn his audience not to let the perfect be the enemy of the good. "If we have the purest of pro-life candidates but we don’t win in the fall, then we lose on the [Supreme] Court," he said. "I want a pro-life presidential candidate who wins in the fall."