McCain Unlikely To Choose Abortion-Rights Supporter As Running Mate, Advisers Say

Main Category: Abortion
Article Date: 25 Aug 2008 - 1:00 PDT

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Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), who opposes abortion rights, is unlikely to choose an abortion-rights supporter as his vice presidential nominee, several advisers close to his campaign said Thursday, the New York Times reports (Bumiller, New York Times, 8/22). Social conservatives have voiced concern over a possible abortion-rights supporter on the Republican ticket after McCain in an interview with The Weekly Standard last week cited former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge (R) -- who supports abortion rights -- as a potential running mate (Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 8/21).

According to advisers close to McCain's campaign, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) and Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R), both of whom oppose abortion rights, are top candidates for the vice presidential slot. Although the McCain campaign recently has floated abortion-rights supporters Ridge and Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) as potential vice presidential picks, it is "unclear" whether their names were put forth because McCain "really wanted to select one of them or whether they were doing so to make him appear open-minded, or both," the Times reports (New York Times, 8/22).

According to the Wall Street Journal, the base of the Republican Party "would undoubtedly appreciate a more traditional pick of someone with a conservative record" on issues such as abortion rights, but a "more socially moderate selection" could curry favor with independents -- whom McCain "has long attracted with his so-called maverick reputation and whose vote could be crucial come November" (Holmes, Wall Street Journal, 8/22).

Poll Suggests Abortion Rights Not a Concern in Vice Presidential Pick

A poll scheduled to be released Friday by the Republican Majority for Choice of 600 likely Republican voters found that nearly 70% of those surveyed do not consider abortion rights as a "litmus test" for the party's vice presidential nominee, which could increase the chances of McCain choosing a running mate who supports abortion rights, The Hill reports. The poll found only one in 10 of the participants in the poll said they would be less likely to vote for McCain if his running mate supported abortion rights, according to a source familiar with the poll results.

According to The Hill, other results from the poll show that more than 80% of respondents believe the Republican Party's platform should include a statement that Republicans have differing views on abortion rights and that disagreement on the issue should be acceptable with the party. The Republican Majority for Choice on Thursday in a press release said that "the majority of Republicans believe the party platform on abortion needs to change and demonstrates that a socially moderate vice presidential running mate would make the GOP ticket more electable" (Rushing, The Hill, 8/21).

Opinion Piece

Although McCain needs the backing of women who support abortion rights to win the presidency, "every time he tries to reach out to them, he gets smacked upside the head by his base," Dahlia Lithwick writes in a Slate opinion piece. Consequently, McCain "needs to keep his base happy -- and the rest of us in the dark" -- about his stance on abortion rights, Lithwick adds.

Less than 20% of people in the U.S. "want to return to an America in which abortion is almost always illegal, and if they knew McCain's true views on the subject, most would not vote for him," Lithwick writes. Although McCain is "banking on his reputation as an independent maverick to snooker voters into thinking that his abortion views are centrist," he actually is not "hiding" the "truth," Lithwick writes, adding that McCain has made it clear that he "wants to do away with our right to choose in all but the most dramatic of circumstances," that he will not "change his party platform to protect rape victims," and that opposition to abortion rights "will be a defining factor in his selections for the Supreme Court" (Lithwick, Slate, 8/21).

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