Can McCain keep the GOP base in his camp?

Mitt Romney’s departure from the presidential race Thursday left many Republicans wondering how the base was going to turn out in November.

In the famed Karl Rove brand of politics that helped usher George W. Bush into the White House, the base was Crazy Glued together with evangelicals and moderates who appreciated the Texas governor’s father.

Now local voters such as Julie Leavitt aren’t so sure that base will stick together well enough to support John McCain as the nominee.

“He’s no conservative, and if Obama is the Democratic choice, he’ll steal too many of the moderates and independents that have given McCain the early primary wins in some states,” Leavitt said. “I was hoping Romney would get enough support to be the anti-McCain.”

Leavitt, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said that while evangelicals may not have felt confident in the religion she and Romney practice, they overlooked Romney’s business background, leadership skills and immigration ideas.

“I find it ironic that McCain is out there trying to persuade conservatives that he’d put strict constructionist justices on the high court,” Leavitt said. “If he did, they’d overturn some of his own stuff.”

Indeed, McCain has found few friends in the conservative echo chamber, from Ann Coulter’s attacks to Rush Limbaugh’s sardonic pronouncement that he’d prefer either Democrat to McCain.

John Lewis, a business consultant in Las Vegas, said he voted for Romney in the Jan. 19 Nevada presidential caucus precisely because he thought the former Massachusetts governor was the kind of Washington outsider who could bring practical solutions to the job.

“We’re essentially hiring a chief executive,” Lewis said. “I don’t want one that flip-flops.”

Lewis said McCain makes Hillary Clinton look conservative in some respects.

“I trust McCain so little to stay out of our lives that I’ll probably sit this one out,” Lewis said.

Lewis, who first voted in the 1980 election, said he’s always felt the Republican nominee carried the party’s message well.

“It’s when you can’t stay conservative, like, you know, the ‘Read my lips’ Bush, that the Democrats win,” Lewis said.

Leavitt said she never saw her family and friends as energized for a candidate as they were for Romney, initially because of his faith, and ultimately because “he seemed truly presidential.”

Leavitt, a stay-at-home mother of four, said she believes Romney did run into trouble with evangelical voters.

“People say the country got over religion with John F. Kennedy,” Leavitt said. “There were too many people in those Southern states who said they didn’t trust Mormons for me to believe we’ve gotten over a person’s beliefs.”

Leavitt said if McCain picks Mike Huckabee as his running mate she won’t be voting for the ticket in November.

“Some think Huckabee is the conservative balance to McCain,” Leavitt said. “He just reminds me of the people who didn’t trust Romney.”

Leavitt said she will participate in November only if Barack Obama is the Democratic nominee. “I could vote for him,” Leavitt said. “If Clinton gets it, I’m staying home.”

Leavitt, 36, said she and her two sisters feel the same way.

“The Republican Party seems to think the answer is running against Hillary,” Leavitt said. “I’m so uninspired by McCain and I just think it’s too cynical to just go to vote against someone, especially the first woman with a chance at it.”

Republican Harold McClain said he’d “hold his nose” and vote for McCain despite the list of things he rattled off that he despises about him. “I just look at his time as a soldier and a prisoner and think there’s got to be some character in there somewhere,” McClain said. “I hate him for McCain-Feingold and I hate his amnesty program and I hate the college sports betting ban stuff.

“I tell you, Clinton might jazz me up, but I’m not so sure she’s going to win (the nomination),” said McClain, a retired engineer. “I’ll vote because I think it’s a mistake to stay home.”

It’s still too early in the process to see whether many in the base “warm” to the nominee.

Emily Johnson, a McCain supporter, said she doesn’t understand all the fuss. “I think he’s the strongest candidate we have against the Democrats,” Johnson said. “He’s a war hero. The Democrats both want to leave Iraq in a mess.”

Johnson said McCain is no moderate on issues that are important to her — the war on terror and taxes. “People forget he’s a fiscal conservative who’s tried to get rid of pork. The Democrats want to raise taxes.”

Democrats have their own issues this election cycle, but it’s not necessarily with base voters.

While Bush still peeled off some Democrats in 2004, the base stayed largely unified against him. It’s hard to envision blacks, Hispanics and Democratic women not turning out in record numbers for Clinton.

But Obama’s coalition of voters, particularly those under 30 and others new to the process, are unlikely to transfer their energy to Clinton in the record numbers Obama has enjoyed in Iowa and other red states.

A Clinton-Obama ticket would appear as unlikely as McCain-Romney.

Lewis said he would vote for McCain if Romney were his vice presidential selection.

“The guy’s old,” Lewis said.

Contact Erin Neff at (702) 387-2906, or by e-mail at eneff@reviewjournal.com.