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McCain Buoyed By Florida's Seniors, Veterans

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By JOHN HERBERT

From Where I Sit

Published: February 5, 2008

Chalk another one up for the old folks. And the veterans.
Sen. John McCain won the Republican presidential primary in Florida a few days ago. It wasn't as close as polls had indicated, but in the senator's own words, "It wasn't a landslide," either.
Florida's senior citizens and veterans let their votes do the talking. Seniors don't cotton to "change," a favored buzzword among most of the 2008 candidates. Veterans have been there and done that; they are keener than many others in recognizing McCain's straight talk as well as his battle stripes. McCain clearly attracted votes by being a known quantity.
Some 17 percent of Florida voters qualify as seniors. That's about 5 percent above than the national average. Florida retirees could easily identify with a white-haired gentleman. They were overwhelmed, too, that he did not wear down in the sometimes frantic campaign pace.
The change issue has been devalued, too. Rejecting change made Sen. McCain's primary victory all the more impressive. He's spent a generation in Washington; he's more of an "insider" than even George Bush. Florida voters have noticed. They weren't impressed with all the calls for change.
Sen. McCain has flip-flopped less than the other candidates. In fact, he didn't have to flip-flop at all on the war in Iraq and the struggle against terrorism. Events have shown that he's been correct all along in his argument to show more military muscle in the Middle East.
Iraq has calmed down noticeably, despite what the New York Times and other liberal media have claimed, since our troop surge. McCain has steadfastly maintained we haven't used enough troops in Iraq. He's consequently and consistently backed the surge.
McCain may have been helped, too, by a quieter Iraq thus far taking a back seat in the campaign. He hasn't had to ruffle many feathers by any drawn-out debates about the war. Older voters have a better perspective on world events, as well.
They have the luxury of idle time to reflect on the fact that we haven't had a repeat of 9/11 since President Bush took the battle against terrorism abroad, rather than waiting for the terrorists to return and inflict even more damage here at home.
The senator's wartime-hero status among veterans has not gone unnoticed. Predictably enough, VFW posts are amply scattered all over Hernando County; our representative in Congress, Ginny Brown-Waite, has often credited her home district with having the densest veteran population in America.
What surprised me most in the primary campaign was the lack of much debate on the fate of 12 million illegal immigrants. All of the candidates agree, more or less, than sealing our Mexican border is a necessary first step. McCain backed that move in a recent "Meet the Press" interview.
The iIlegal immigration issue has been overshadowed by the state of the economy and the real estate market in recent months.
McCain was once close to supporting a form of amnesty as stage two. He's toughened up during the campaign, though, shifting to a harder line since Congress has apparently dropped the issue for now.
His stance on illegals didn't seem to matter in Florida, even though the state has been heavy in south-of-the-border voters for years. An endorsement from Sen. Mel Martinez certainly helped McCain over those potentially rough patches strewn with illegal immigrants.
McCain certainly won't have smooth sailing through the remaining primaries. States like Massachusetts and California are heavy in young, anti-war voters. As first-home buyers, they're also going to be particularly sensitive to the state of the economy and more receptive to calls for change.
In so-called Middle America, McCain will curry more support based on veterans' issues while fellow candidates Mike Romney and Mike Huckabee slug it out for a share of conservative evangelicals. It's significant that McCain has already taken South Carolina, a state strong in both current and veteran military as well as golfing seniors.

A regular columnist for Hernando Today, John Herbert lives in Spring Hill.

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