Republicans all shook up
Conservatives not happy with McCain, voter turnout weak, party divided
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Lee Bandy
On Politics
lbandy@thestate.com
(803) 771-8648

Republicans are in a fix.

Here’s why:

Conservative Republicans don’t care for John McCain, their party’s presumptive presidential nominee.

GOP voter turnout has been pathetic during this primary season. There is no excitement.

The party’s political base is splintered. Evangelical Christians and cultural conservatives, fiscal conservatives and party regulars are competing for attention.

In addition, there is a growing sense of resignation among Republicans that no matter what they say or do — or whom they nominate for president — 2008 is going to be a Democrat’s year.

Bottom line? The GOP is in complete disarray.

McCain, the U.S. senator from Arizona, sought to allay the fears of skeptical conservatives during a high-profile meeting Thursday of the Conservative Political Action Committee.

But many conservatives don’t trust McCain. Some loathe him.

Many remember McCain’s 2000 primary contest against George W. Bush in South Carolina. It was one of the most bitter contests ever witnessed by man. McCain was the moderate candidate in that race, reaching out to Democrats.

This year, conservatives tried and failed to stop McCain in his quest to win the GOP nomination. With growing frustration and an unaccustomed sense of impotence, many conservatives now have surveyed the battlefield and realized it is too late to stop McCain.

True, some prominent economic and social conservatives slowly have moved to McCain’s side as his hold on the nomination has become more secure. But he still faces resistance from those who see his challenges to party orthodoxy on a range of issues — from campaign-finance reform to taxes and the environment — as a form of left-leaning betrayal.

Some show no signs of coming around to McCain.

James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, said under no circumstance would he vote for McCain.

“I’m convinced that Sen. McCain is not a conservative, and in fact has gone out of his way to stick his thumb in the eyes of those who are,â€