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GOP rallies support in Hackensack; Virginia senator makes endors
(by Mark J. Bonamo - February 05, 2008)
The heated Democratic presidential primary battle between Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York and Sen. Barack Obama may be drawing a lot of attention. But on a gray Saturday morning on Main Street in Hackensack, a visit by Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) speaking in support of GOP presidential contender Arizona Sen. John McCain, provided a streak of campaign color.
At the Feb. 2 straw poll held by the Bergen County Republican Organization (BCRO), U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (R- Texas – 14th district) won the symbolic ballot, garnering 52 votes of the 120 cast at BCRO headquarters in downtown Hackensack. McCain came in second with 40 votes, while former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney scored 27. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee received a single vote.
Warner weighs in for McCain
Sen. Warner, 80, is one of the most venerable members of the Senate. After serving as U.S. Secretary of the Navy from 1972 to1974, he was elected to the Senate in 1978 and is now serving his fifth term in office. He is one of five World War II veterans remaining in the Senate, a fact highlighted by the “Veterans for McCain” sticker Warner wore affixed to his blue blazer.
At a time when the field of GOP candidates is vociferously debating who is the true heir to Republican icon President Ronald Reagan, Warner wielded another sartorial weapon on behalf of McCain. Warner summoned Reagan’s memory by wearing a red, white and blue necktie with the words “Democracy is not a spectator sport” stitched on it. The tie, Warner said, had been a gift from Reagan. Warner then applied the tie’s message to McCain, saying that the U.S. Navy veteran “is a man resolved to do first and foremost what is best for this country no matter the cost to him politically.”
Speaking to Hackensack Chronicle after his speech, Warner underscored the reasons for his support for McCain’s run for the White House. He noted both his strong potential Democratic competition in the November presidential election and emphasized national security as a critical campaign issue.
“I know Sen. Clinton and Sen. Obama well from the Senate, and they are very able people,” he said. “But you’ve got to make a choice. I’ve known McCain for 35 years. I was his boss when he was in the Navy, and sat next to him in the Senate. I just know him to be the man that can best address the complexity of the threats affecting this nation today from all over the world.”
Warner is well aware that Bergen County and the state of New Jersey as a whole have been leaning Democratic in recent years. However, Warner believes that McCain could be the candidate to make New Jersey change from blue to red.
“What is it you cherish most?” Warner asked. “The answer for all Americans is my freedom and my family. That’s being challenged from abroad by people who want to take it from us. John McCain doesn’t need any on-the-job training when the phone rings by the President’s bed at four in the morning to answer the call.”
Debate lively inside Bergen GOP straw poll
While Warner banged the drum for McCain’s campaign, the sound coming from inside the straw poll was the familiar din of intra-party discord during primary season.
From the stage, New Jersey State Sen. Joseph Kyrillos Jr., (R-13th district), 47, who serves as Romney’s state chairman, said that only his candidate can “reunite the house that Reagan built.”
However, John Van Vliet, 21, a Passaic County resident and a rabid Ron Paul supporter, would rather tear that house down rather than turn over the keys to either Romney or McCain.
“I voted for Ron in the straw poll today because he wants to get us out of Iraq,” said Van Vliet, a Hawthorne resident. “If McCain gets in and he wants to expand the war, I’m going to have to go. Ron Paul may be a long shot, but I won’t feel guilty about voting for him afterwards. And if he doesn’t get the nomination, I’d still write him in so I could have a clear conscience.”
But Clara Nibot, a Romney supporter, thought that it was unconscionable that so many Paul supporters from outside Bergen County showed up to the event.
“They sabotaged this straw poll,” said Nibot, 62. “This happened because of Ron Paul’s organized, grassroots efforts here today.”
The political process at work
Conor Rogers didn’t need a possibly skewed straw poll to figure out how to vote. He looked to the fall with his mind definitely made up.
“I support John McCain because I’m a fiscal conservative and I support his stance on the war,” said Rogers, 18, a Ho-Ho-Kus resident and Bergen Catholic High School senior who is also chairman of the Bergen County Teenage Republican Association and executive director of the New Jersey state teenage Republicans. “He was one of the architects of the troop surge policy, which I think is one of the best military policies that we’ve had in decades.”
Rogers also didn’t like the perceived methods behind Paul’s victory.
“These guys came up from as far as South Jersey to make it look like they have a strong presence, but all the McCain people here are local people,” he said. “Plus, I think a lot of young people in New Jersey were excited for (former New York mayor and presidential candidate) Rudy Giuliani. Now that Giuliani is no longer in the race, I think a lot of his support will transfer over to McCain.”
Rogers was confident that McCain would triumph in November no matter who the Democrats finally decide on to face him.
“If you put McCain up against Obama, he’s a political heavyweight who has more experience,” he said. “If you put him up against Hillary, he’s the moderate alternative to someone who is seen as very liberal. Either way, he’ll beat both of them.”
BCRO chairman Robert Ortiz Jr., a McCain supporter, believes that when the dust has settled after Super Tuesday, McCain will emerge as the Republican presidential nominee. With McCain, Ortiz feels that he has a candidate who could help made future inroads for the GOP on a state and local level.
“Politics is cyclical, and I think that the trend is starting to go back toward the Republicans,” said Ortiz, 36. “This past November, Republicans in Bergen County had a net gain of 19 council seats. Many would argue that what happens in
Bergen County is a good way to tell which way the state is going, and I think that it’s trending Republican.”
Email: bonamo@northjersey.com
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