Published: May 03, 2008 08:54 pm            

MARK BENNETT: Underground legion insists GOP has options: McCain or Paul

TERRE HAUTE — Never mind the math.

The frontrunner for the party’s presidential nomination may hold an insurmountable lead in delegates won. But the second-place candidate sees no value in quitting the race.

Thanks to that tenacity, Indiana voters have a choice in Tuesday’s primary — John McCain or Ron Paul.

Yes, the duel between Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton dominates almost every aspect of Hoosiers’ lives right now. But the Republicans actually have two active candidates, with far more distinct differences than the Obama-Clinton selection. That option is worth making, Paul’s avid supporters insist, even if McCain already has enough delegates to secure the Republican nomination.

McCain, with 1,331 delegates, is labeled “the presumptive nominee.” Paul, with 21 delegates, is labeled “the longshot,” if he’s labeled at all. Usually, the remaining list consists of Obama, McCain and Clinton.

“In Indiana, [the media] still says, ‘Three candidates,’” said Melissa Lineberry, Indiana field director for the Paul campaign, “but there are actually four, and people should be told that.”

Indeed, Paul has not quit in a field that once consisted of 11 Republicans and nine Democrats. Still, despite generating $34 million in donations through his grassroots network and Internet popularity, according to the Los Angeles Times, Paul’s name isn’t on the minds of most voters in Indiana or elsewhere.

Why? Well, why didn’t Mike Huckabee or Mitt Romney or Rudy Giuliani continue their challenges to McCain? Each saw their funds or support dwindle, compared to McCain.

Paul’s advocates see a different reason for his mainstream anonymity.

“We really blame the media for that,” said Lineberry, a 34-year resident of Monroeville, near Fort Wayne.

“The media refuses to put his name out in front the way they do the other three,” said Jerry Brinkman, a Paul supporter from Vigo County.

Brinkman, 59 and retired as a gun shop owner and small-arms instructor for the National Guard, was asked why he thinks news organizations have snubbed Paul. “Because they’re afraid of him,” he said. “They don’t want what he has to offer. He wants the American people to take back control of the country from the government.”

Blaming the media is old-school in political campaigns.

“All candidates blame the media,” said Edward Carmines, professor of political science at Indiana University.

Paul poses a complex option for 21st-century Republicans. The 72-year-old, 11-term Texas congressman is a constitutionalist with Libertarian-type positions on many issues. He voted against the military intervention in Iraq, and favors a rapid withdrawal of troops from that war. Paul, an OB/GYN physician, has earned the congressional nickname of “Dr. No” for frequently being among a small minority opposing various pieces of legislation. He also carries odd baggage the party hasn’t had to deal with for decades, namely his recent congratulatory letter to the controversial, ultra-right John Birch Society and acceptance of an invitation to speak at that group’s October convention.

Paul’s candidacy is “a complicated story, given today’s Republican Party,” Carmines said. “He’s an odd looking Republican, especially with his strong anti-war stance and some very Libertarian positions.”

Paul’s consistent, by-the-letter application of the Constitution is unique, said Gerald Wright, IU professor of political science.

“It’s charming,” he said, chuckling. “It’s a quality you would like to have, and I say that not as a Ron Paul supporter. I think we would have problems with the kind of minimal state he’d like to have.”

Still, Paul has maintained a national appeal. In the most recent primary, Pennsylvania, Paul got 16 percent of the vote.

“For an ideological conservative, Ron Paul is much closer to the old-time Republican conservative” than McCain or the party’s current president, Wright said. Paul favors abolition of the Internal Revenue Service, the Federal Reserve and some other federal departments, for example. By contrast, George W. Bush “is a big-government conservative,” Wright said.

“A fair number of people in the Republican Party are saying, ‘I don’t know what’s gone wrong with my party,’” Wright said, “and that’s why a lot of Republicans are attracted to Ron Paul.”

The Indiana Republican Party sees solidarity behind McCain, the 71-year-old Arizona senator whose “maverick” reputation and positions rankle some conservatives. It appears he’ll wrap up the nomination at the national convention Sept. 1-4 at Minneapolis, barring an upheaval there.

“Ron Paul’s on the ballot, and we respect him, and obviously he has a lot of grassroots support,” said Jay Kenworthy, communications director for the Indiana Republicans. “But the mathematics say, [Paul] doesn’t have a chance. Practically speaking, it’s John McCain’s race, and he’s our candidate.”

As Kenworthy put it, “This race is about his vision for the country, and the Republicans’ vision is right along with his.”

But Paul’s presence makes Republicans and others consider his priorities, said Lynette Sherrill, a 42-year-old Miami Countian and Indiana field coordinator for Paul.

“It’s about waking people up,” she said. “It’s about educating them. It’s about getting back to personal freedom and liberty.”

As for the Republican Party’s approach to Paul’s backers, Sherrill said, “I don’t think they’re giving us the attention that we’re due.”

Sherrill isn’t sure Paul will draw as many votes in Indiana as earlier primary states, even though the state is one of the nation’s reddest.

Brinkman said, “I would love to see him get 18 to 20 percent of the vote.”

That would match McCain’s performance in the 2000 Indiana primary, when he received 18.8 percent of the vote to Bush’s 81.2 percent. McCain drew 76,569 votes that year. Since 1964, no runner-up in the Indiana Republican primary has gotten less than 42,878 votes — Bob Dole’s total in 1988 behind George H.W. Bush.

Paul will make an election eve visit to Indiana on Monday, making a 7 p.m. speech at Indiana University-Purdue University at Fort Wayne. Familiarity makes people like Paul more, Lineberry insisted.

“I think [the number of backers] would be higher if they knew about him,” she said. “When I go canvassing, few people have heard of him, unless they’re Internet junkies.”

When Sherrill talks with Republicans about Paul, they often bring up his anti-Iraq war stance.

“More often than the war thing, you hear that he’s not electable,” Sherrill said. “They’ll say, ‘He’s quit, hasn’t he?’ I’ll say, ‘No, turn off CNN.’”



Mark Bennett can be reached at mark.bennett@tribstar.com or (812) 231-4377.

        

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