McCain's Problem on the Right

Feb. 6, 2008 — -- Sen. John McCain may have secured his status as the Republican presidential frontrunner after winning a lion's share of delegates in yesterday's Super Tuesday contests, but exit poll results reveal that he faces a huge obstacle in his quest for his party's nomination: Republican conservatives.

While the Arizona senator has a commanding delegate lead over his rivals, only 32 percent of self-described conservatives — the majority of GOP primary voters yesterday — cast their votes for McCain, according to exit polling.

A day after his Super Tuesday victories, the Arizona senator attempted to reassure conservatives about his intentions, previewing his message for Thursday's Conservative Political Action conference, a major gathering held each year in Washington that McCain skipped last year, rising the ire of some conservatives.

"Our message will be that we all share common principles, common conservative principles, and we should coalesce around those issues in which we are in agreement and, I hope, respectfully disagree on the few specifics that there is disagreement on," McCain said in Phoenix today before heading back to Washington.

"We share common principles and values and ideas for the future of this country based on a fundamental conservative political philosophy which has been my record," he said.

The moderate Republican senator has long had a strained relationship with the conservative base of his party, which decries his vote against President George W. Bush's $1.35 trillion tax cut in 2001, sponsorship of the failed bipartisan immigration reform legislation and opposition of a federal ban on same-sex marriage.