An unsettled GOP base for McCain in Colorado

by Jill Zuckman

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.--Kathleen and Myron Buzby listen closely to conservative talk radio, consider themselves "serious Christians," and count themselves blessed to have 18 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

They are exactly the kind of people who flocked to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in the Colorado caucuses and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in other contests, not to Sen. John McCain. Now that McCain has virtually locked down the Republican nomination for president, the Buzbys are dismayed and somewhat dispirited.

"I think McCain is temperamental and he gets revenge," said Kathleen Buzby, who can easily tick off the issues where she disagrees with the Arizona senator, starting with campaign finance reform, his unsuccessful attempt to overhaul immigration laws and his two votes against President Bush's tax cuts.

On the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains, at the base of Pike's Peak, where "America the Beautiful" was penned, is a community of people who consider themselves extremely conservative. Many are evangelical Christians, known for their intense social conservatism on issues such has abortion and gay marriage.

These are the people McCain must win over in order to unite his base and win the presidency in November. It is a difficult balance because he also needs independent voters who don't necessarily hold the same views as religious conservatives.

Dr. James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family here and perhaps the nation's most prominent Christian conservative, has already rejected the possibility.

"Speaking as a private individual, I would not vote for John McCain under any circumstances," Dobson said recently in a radio interview. He was unavailable for further comment.

Former Colorado Lt. Gov. Jane Norton, McCain's state co-chair, acknowledged that there is a lot of work to do but said she believes these conservative voters will eventually come around.

"Hope springs eternal," Norton said. "When given the options whether to vote for a Democrat nominee who they're not going to agree with on hardly anything, vs. McCain, where they can agree on a lot of things, I'm confident people won't stay home."

In the recent Virginia primary after Romney had dropped out, exit polls showed that Huckabee won two-thirds of the voters who call themselves very conservative. With Huckabee still in the race, the next test for McCain is likely to be on March 4 in Texas, where conservatives dominate the Republican electorate.

Advisers to McCain have tried to dismiss the Virginia results as admiration for a fellow evangelical rather than a knock against McCain.

"Naturally, Virginia Baptist evangelicals are going to vote for a Baptist evangelical, but it doesn't mean they don't like McCain," said Charles R. Black Jr., McCain's senior strategist, citing McCain's sky-high approval ratings.

The campaign is reaching out to conservatives by showing voters that many of the people they look to, such as Gary Bauer, president of American Values, are now supporting McCain. The senator is emphasizing the contrast between himself and the Democrats, as well as stressing areas of agreement with conservatives.

Still, there is no denying that McCain has some problems with this segment of his party after years of going one way when many fellow Republicans were going another. While McCain has consistently voted against abortion, for example, many voters here are troubled by his support for embryonic stem cell research.

Ron Pike, a conservative who supported Romney, watched his granddaughter in the toddler play area of the Chapel Hills mall, and expressed his disappointment.

"I don't think very highly of John McCain, and for the first time, I probably won't vote," said Pike, a former school board member, who says McCain is weak on immigration and undercuts the 1st Amendment with his campaign finance law. "We have three liberals running."

Beth Schuh, who calls herself an evangelical Catholic, did not attend the caucuses for the first time in years because she didn't like her choices. She is particularly disdainful of McCain.

"He's not pro-life enough for me," said Schuh, who cleans houses to make extra money for her family. "I don't see a consistency in McCain on issues in general that makes me excited about anything he says."

In Colorado, a swing state, a Republican must win big in El Paso County to counter the growing number of Democratic votes elsewhere in the state. Of all the counties in the country, this one gave Bush his fourth largest margin of victory in 2000, and his fifth largest margin in 2004.

The voters here don't just vote, they also campaign--making phone calls, walking precincts, knocking on doors and handing out literature. McCain is looking for that level of commitment.

"He's going to need their intensity, energy and enthusiasm to win in November," said Ralph Reed, the former head of the Christian Coalition and a Republican strategist.

Not all conservatives here are rooted in religion. Colorado Springs is home to the Air Force Academy, to active military members and to many retired veterans. It's a group in which McCain, a former Navy pilot and prisoner of war during the Vietnam War, excels.

Tina Lilek, for example, is a retired Air Force major who initially favored Romney. But she's also comfortable with McCain.

"He's strong on defense and he's got a lot of experience in the Senate," Lilek said. "He was military and as a commander he would be good at leading, not micromanaging."

Many elected officials in this area have also come to terms with McCain, even though most supported Romney until he dropped out of the race two weeks ago.

"We recognize that Sen. McCain may not agree with us on every issue, but he agrees with us on a lot more than either of the two Democratic candidates," said Wayne Williams, a county commissioner who co-chaired El Paso County for Romney. "Everybody that I've talked to, who was backing Romney, is now backing McCain and will back him in the general election."

But McCain's maverick ways make it an open question as to whether conservatives will go out and vote, said Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the Rothenberg Political Report, a non-partisan guide to politics.

"They will vote for McCain unless he says or does something that is such anathema to them that they say to hell with him. He is capable of angering them further or reminding them why they aren't thrilled with him," Rothenberg said. "Over the next few weeks he's going to have to schmooze them and woo them and make them feel wanted."

As they flipped through magazines in a bookstore cafe, Kathleen and Myron Buzby said they may have to swallow their misgivings come November.

"If my party needs me, I'll vote for him because I don't want this country to turn into a socialist country," said Kathleen Buzby, who likes Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama even less than McCain.

"We don't really have a choice," said Myron Buzby, a World War II veteran.

"It's the lesser of two evils," she agreed.