If true, this is a story that John McCain’s GOP critics will use to seriously undermine his presidential campaign.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) was close to leaving the Republican Party in 2001, weeks before then-Sen. Jim Jeffords (Vt.) famously announced his decision to become an Independent, according to former Democratic lawmakers who say they were involved in the discussions.
In interviews with The Hill this month, former Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) and ex-Rep. Tom Downey (D-N.Y.) said there were nearly two months of talks with the maverick lawmaker following an approach by John Weaver, McCain’s chief political strategist.
Democrats had contacted Jeffords and then-Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-R.I.) in the early months of 2001 about switching parties, but in McCain’s case, they said, it was McCain’s top strategist who came to them. (emphasis added)
According to the story in The Hill, Weaver asked Daschle and Downey in March 2001 why Democrats hadn’t reached out to McCain to switch parties. “Well, if the right people asked him,” Weaver said, according to Downey, adding that he responded, “The calls will be made. Who do you want?”
After the lunch, Downey immediately contacted Daschle, who initiated a series of conversations with McCain about how to execute a party switch, including issues such as committee assignments and seniority. Other Dem senators involved with the discussions confirmed these events.
So, what happened? Vermont’s Jim Jeffords, one of three Republican senators Dems urged to switch, left the GOP and gave control of the chamber to Dems. At that point, Chafee and McCain then broke off their discussions.
There are two angles to consider here: 1) whether this is true; and 2) what it means to McCain’s political prospects if it is true.
On the first point, McCain denies ever having considered caucusing with Dems, but I’m nevertheless inclined to believe it. I’ve heard rumors for years about McCain having seriously mulled over a switch in ’01, and Downey and Daschle have little reason to make up this story now.
Indeed, Downey denied any political motivation, saying he is still friends with Weaver and “deeply respects” McCain. “I would have been happy to come forward last year or the year before if someone had asked … There were meetings in offices. You can’t deny [these meetings took place]. They occurred.”
Downey added, “It’s my hope that John McCain is the Republican nominee because from my perspective, although I think Democrats are going to win, if they don’t, McCain is the sort of man I would feel comfortable [with] as the president of the United States. I’m not trying to hurt him.”
What’s more, if the point of this story was to undermine McCain’s campaign, it wouldn’t leak now, in the middle of an unrelated White House scandal; it would leak much later, during the heat of the campaign.
On the second point, what effect this might have now, McCain may have reason to worry. If this morning’s blog posts from leading conservative voices are any indication, these revelations represent a major setback.
The Hill [story] may torpedo John McCain’s presidential campaign…. As Dale notes, not only does this story reinforce the stereotype of McCain as a fence-sitting maverick, if Daschle’s claims are even close to the whole truth it is also far more treacherous behavior by a party loyalist than Mitt Romney’s history of flip-flopping on social issues.
In case you haven’t heard by now, The Hill has essentially buried John McCain’s campaign for the Republican nomination. It’s hard to see how the already floundering McCain can survive the revelation that not only did he consider switching to the Democratic caucus in 2001, his people approached the Democrats to begin conversations on the matter.
Ed says if it’s true, he’s finished. I agree.
Someone on McCain’s blogger relations team told James Joyner at 7:04 that “we’re preparing a response.” A subsequent exchange at 7:26 said they “hope to have [it] at around 8:00 am.” At 9:13, though, they reversed course: “We’re not going to comment.”
Hmm.