Campaignia Watches Presidential Debate with Some Likely Republican Voters, Takes Pulse of How They Feel About GOP Nomination Process
On Thursday, May 3, 2007, Campaignia watched the ten-candidate Republican Presidential Debate, with some likely Republican voters. Several voters were willing to talk in detail about their choices, off the record. However, there were also two voters who were willing to be quoted, on the record. They have differing viewpoints; here are their respective feelings on the GOP nomination process: When asked about his thoughts on the problems Senator McCain might face in obtaining the Republican nomination, and as to whether he was undecided as to which candidate he will support, likely Republican voter Mike O’Donnell replied:
“The fact that he [McCain] ran in the last election [referring to 2000], is kind of hurting him, because of the simple fact, that the American public are kind of looking at it, as ‘Been there, done that.’ when they’re actually seeing him. Whereas, some of the other candidates, that nobody’s ever seen before, are getting more atttention, because people are more interested in saying, ‘OK, here’s a fresh face, what does he have to say?’ Whereas I think if he hadn’t run against Bush, in the last election, and THEN he came out for this election, I think he’d be getting a lot more media time, I think he’d be getting a lot more positive press, because more people would be interested in what he initially had to say.”
On whether O’Donnell has selected a candidate: “I am still undecided. I would say - I’m impressed with Mitt [Romney] and how he’s come up. He looks very presidential; he has that air about him; he has a presence. Giuliani, obviously. has the name recognition of 9/11. I don’t really worry about the liberal kind of views, because he’s so strong with defense, things like that. But I don’t know… I think it’s between those two [Romney and Giuliani].”
Another likely Republican voter, Dan Cornell, explained why he likes Senator McCain:
“First, as of now, I’m a John McCain man. I like his stance on the social issues, abortion, same-sex marriage, things like that; also his stance, very pro-active on the war in Iraq. As of right now, it’s very early on, but I like John McCain.”
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