GOP voters still dissing John McCain

Politico

It's hard not to notice: In each of the last three Republican primaries, roughly a quarter of the vote went to someone other than John McCain.

Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee got a combined 27 percent of the vote in Pennsylvania last month, long after the GOP nomination had been settled in McCain's favor. On Tuesday, Paul, Huckabee and Mitt Romney received a combined 23 percent in Indiana. Alan Keyes, Huckabee, Paul and "No Preference" took 26 percent in North Carolina.

On the surface, it would seem that McCain, the party's presumptive nominee, still has some distance to go in winning over his party. But aides to McCain and other observers say the results are less than meets the eye.

They argue that the lingering votes for Paul and Huckabee—who together won about one-fifth of the vote in Indiana and North Carolina—represent vestigial passion for two candidates who developed a fervent, if narrow, grassroots following.

Still, for a candidate viewed with suspicion by some in his party’s base, the dissenting votes are a nuisance he could do without.

One McCain strategist suggested it was part of a long-term effort to influence the direction of the party.

“Ron Paul is doing now exactly what Pat Robertson did in his heyday,” said this adviser. “This is a systematic effort to have a major role in the party.”

By showing up and voting for their candidate even after he’s conceded he can’t win the nomination, the argument goes, supporters are doing the same thing as their fellow believers in other states who are packing party conventions in an effort to elect Paul delegates to the national convention in Minneapolis and onto county and state committees...............