What do voters want--members of Congress who approach every issue as if it were an ideological litmus test that reflects the ultimate battle of good versus evil or members with the experiences and character to bring less rigid perspectives and problem-solving skills to almost any issue?
One example of voters having this choice is the Senate race in Arizona where former Rep. J.D. Hayworth’s primary challenge to Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is an obvious test case.
Hayworth is running an issue-oriented, purely ideological challenge to McCain, arguing that his voting record is wrong on taxes, bailouts, amnesty for illegals, the federal marriage amendment, cap-and-trade, campaign finance and terrorism.
On his Web site, Hayworth, who is described as “the consistent conservative,” says that he would have voted differently than McCain on all these high-profile issues, as well as on the confirmation of Eric Holder as attorney general.
McCain, of course, calls himself a conservative and has a case to make. McCain’s CQ Party Unity score for 2009 was 96 percent, the same score as Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) and National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn (Texas). Even Hayworth isn’t likely to dismiss Cornyn and Sessions as moderates.
Issues are, of course, extremely important to voters. And most people would say that it’s far better that people judge candidates on their positions on issues rather than their looks or their TV ads.
But don’t many voters want members of Congress to bring something more to their job than merely a list of issue positions? In fact, to many voters, the person matters.
Hayworth is a “personality.” McCain is a war hero and one-time Republican nominee for president. Hayworth’s Web site notes that he is an Eagle Scout.
The question for Arizona Republicans, then, is whether McCain is conservative enough for them.
If they want an utterly predictable conservative, they’ll vote for Hayworth. If they want someone who is generally conservative but can be quirkily independent and thoughtful, who has had a full life and a broad range of international and domestic interests, and who understands that the legislative process takes some give and take, they will stick with McCain.
Provided by Stu Rothenberg, Editor and Publisher of The Rothenberg Political Report and a featured speaker at NAA’s Capitol Conference Government Affairs Roundtable Luncheon on March 9 in Washington, D.C., along with political analyst Charlie Cook. This column first appeared in Roll Call and CQPolitics.com on Feb. 22.