Straight-talkin’ McCain with a GOP power broker in Sin City

By Jason Wright, Editor

Filed Under Race for White House 2008 on May 10 

The good news is that I survived my trip to Vegas. The bad news is that I lost $5 on slots, had to take the dreaded red-eye back to DC, and sat next to a girl suffering from an allergic chronic snotting problem. Oh how I wish she’d followed the “What Happens in Vegas” motto and left her mucous ducts in her room at the charming Circus Circus.

Early in the week, whilst pimping for Political Derby with a prominent conservative strategist, we found ourselves straight-talkin’ the top three GOP stallions. My chat mate, a social conservative who requested anonymity because he has personal relationships with all three front runners, told me that he’d happily vote for Rudy or Romney, but under no circumstances would he vote for John McCain. Period. Why? Because of his “Gang of 14″ shenanigans and his “assault on the First Amendment” in the form of campaign finance reform.

It could mean nothing. It could have been the blazing sun, the money he’d lost on nickel slots, or the after-effects of the extravagant Tropicana buffet, a staple on the annual list of “Best Buffets on the South End of the Strip in a Tropical-themed Hotel connected via sky-walk to the Excalibur and MGM.”

Or it could represent sentiment bubbling beneath the surface among GOP movers and shakers who are gulping the establishment Kool-Aid and following Ronald Reagan’s 11th Commandment (“Thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Republican”) but have no intention of actually supporting McCain next February when baby polls grow up to be full-sized primaries than count.

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