ST. PAUL – Sen. Sam Brownback made a run for the presidency and he’s eyeing the governor’s seat. But tonight it was all Sen. John McCain.
Brownback leveled a passionate endorsement of McCain to Republicans here, drawing a repeated mantra from the crowd of “Yes we will!” as he asked the packed arena whether America would win in Iraq, develop cheaper energy and reform tax codes.
That powerful “Yes we will!” initiated from the sunflower-clad Kansas delegation on the convention floor and quickly spilled through the Xcel Energy Center.
And that Kansas enthusiasm bloomed despite a bulging group of reporters and convention-goers that spilled into Kansas’ seating as they tried to catch a glimpse of nearby former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, the man who won the Kansas caucuses earlier this year.
With rotating cityscapes cast on the jumbotron behind him, Brownback rallied the crowd around McCain, depicting McCain at the Capitol taking an oath of office as the 44th President of the United States.
“He will put his left hand on the Bible and raise his right hand about this high,” he said, lifting his hand just short of his shoulder. “He can’t raise it any higher because of the broken bones he suffered in Vietnam serving his country and standing up for his men. I don’t know about you, but where I come from that’s called true grit.”
That was the closest Brownback came to mentioning his home state. And the Kansan also only briefly touched on the conservative values that made Brownback’s quick endorsement of McCain, who has been greeted skeptically by social conservatives, important.
“Are we going to give love and respect to the unborn child, regardless of whether that child has Down syndrome or is born into poverty?” he asked in a rhythmic cadence that drew some audience participation. “Yes we will!”
Brownback’s strong opposition to abortion rights has been viewed by many as a signal that the man he endorses may also hold conservative values. But he didn’t seem to send that signal to Republicans tonight.
Instead he keyed on McCain’s history as a war veteran who spend more than five years in the Hanoi Hilton before being released.
“In this historic nation, John McCain is a history maker, and with selecting Sarah Palin, a history breaker,” he said. “But that’s not what I like most about John McCain. What I like is that he does what he tells you he’ll do — even if it hurts him.”
Earlier in the day, Brownback admitted he hasn’t always agreed with McCain, particularly on the McCain-Feingold campaign reform bill, which Brownback viewed as unconstitutional.
But he said McCain is a maverick who does what he believes.
Brownback also gave a nod to McCain’s opponent, Sen. Barack Obama at a Kansas delegation breakfast in a Minneapolis suburb today.
“I think what Obama has tapped into is what Reagan did so well and that’s just the optimism and hope of the American public,” he told a room full of Kansas delegates who were eating plates full of fruit and muffins this morning. “His speeches, when I watch him, I like him.”
But then the inevitable came. “When I dig in underneath, I’m like ‘but that isn’t the way to do it.”
“I think we have to have that hope and optimism,” he told the Republicans. “But it’s not through more government bureaucracy. It’s through more families, it’s through more faith, it’s through more freedoms. That’s our best way on forward.”