The head of a Pennsylvania conservative group has some advice for presumptive GOP presidential nominee John McCain: pick someone other than former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge as your running mate.
Senator McCain (R-Arizona) angered some conservatives last week when he suggested that his running mate could, like his good friend Tom Ridge, support abortion. Governor Ridge said Sunday he thinks Republicans would be comfortable with a vice-presidential candidate who does not oppose abortion (see related article). But Diane Gramley, president of the American Family Association of Pennsylvania, strongly disagrees with Ridge. "He needs to go and read the Republican platform," she suggests. "The last time I checked [there] was still...a pro-life plank in the platform; so he needs to do some research, I believe, in where his party stands on the issue of life." Gramley says selecting Ridge as a running mate would actually hurt McCain's chances of winning the key battleground state of Pennsylvania and not sit well with pro-life evangelicals and Catholics in the state. According to Gramley, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee would be the only vice-presidential candidate who could draw more evangelicals to McCain. Ridge, who appeared on Fox News Sunday yesterday, said were he to be on the GOP ticket and be elected as vice president, McCain's view on abortion would prevail over his in a McCain administration. He interprets the Arizona senator's statement last week as an appeal to centrist voters.
Senator McCain (R-Arizona) angered some conservatives last week when he suggested that his running mate could, like his good friend Tom Ridge, support abortion. Governor Ridge said Sunday he thinks Republicans would be comfortable with a vice-presidential candidate who does not oppose abortion (see related article).
But Diane Gramley, president of the American Family Association of Pennsylvania, strongly disagrees with Ridge. "He needs to go and read the Republican platform," she suggests. "The last time I checked [there] was still...a pro-life plank in the platform; so he needs to do some research, I believe, in where his party stands on the issue of life." Gramley says selecting Ridge as a running mate would actually hurt McCain's chances of winning the key battleground state of Pennsylvania and not sit well with pro-life evangelicals and Catholics in the state. According to Gramley, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee would be the only vice-presidential candidate who could draw more evangelicals to McCain. Ridge, who appeared on Fox News Sunday yesterday, said were he to be on the GOP ticket and be elected as vice president, McCain's view on abortion would prevail over his in a McCain administration. He interprets the Arizona senator's statement last week as an appeal to centrist voters.
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