john mccain must feel that he still has something to prove to social conservatives. despite his consistently pro-life voting record, he doesn’t believe that we are convinced enough to give him our support. why else would he openly call for the repeal of roe v. wade? while i’m not sure that his previous statements on abortion are as strong as what he is saying now, i don’t think that mccain’s record gives us any indication that this is a massive position shift for him.

of course, if abortion was the only concern that conservatives had with mccain, then he would be in a great position to get the republican nomination. however, he has a few more hurdles to jump before he can gain their support.

there is his opposition to a federal marriage amendment, which many social conservatives support. in addition to that,  it may be hard for the religious right to forgive mccain for his harsh statements about them during the 2000 campaign. some of them have long memories, and they haven’t forgotten how mccain treated them. even though the influence of the religious right has diminished somewhat over the years, it still exists, and it wouldn’t hurt to have them in your corner when running for president.

then there’s the main disagreement most conservatives have with him — mccain-feingold. this legislation is an imperfect solution to an unsolvable problem. we can’t improve the process of electing candidates by restricting debate.

mccain doesn’t need to prove anything on abortion, but on some of these other issues, he’s got some fences to mend. he’s the closest thing the republicans have so far to a viable conservative candidate for ’08, but i remain undecided on the field. anything can happen in a year.

tags: john mccain, social conservatives, ’08 election