While we don't generally put a lot of stock in endorsements here at ElephantBiz, there are two important ones today. John McCain has won the Sam Brownback primary, and televangelist and one-time presidential candidate Pat Robertson endorsed Rudy Giuliani.
Brownback chose to endorse his friend John McCain despite his flirtations with Giuliani. Brownback's endorsement carries a lot of weight with social conservatives and makes this a big deal for McCain. Despite knowing when life begins and having strong credentials on the right to life, McCain has a tendency to "buck the status quo" if you will, and downplay or outright oppose issues important to social conservatives such as supporting destructive embryonic stem cell research and opposing an amendment against gay marriage. His membership in the Republican Main Street Partnership also does not win him any conservative friends.
Robertson, who has had his scrapes with McCain in the past, also carries a lot of weight among social conservatives and his endorsement is a big boost to Giuliani. However, Robertson is undoubtedly going to come under attack from fellow social conservatives for being a turncoat. And if/when Giuliani loses the primary, Robertson is going to lose a lot of credibility among social conservatives. Lest we forget, it was Pat Robertson who challenged George H.W. Bush in 1988 for the Republican nomination from the Christian flank.
In other endorsement news, Fred Thompson announced an impressive leadership team from his home state of Tennessee that includes every elected Republican at the state level and up.
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