McCain picks up a conservative

Mitt Romney is the one who had the big night last night. Faced with a do or die moment, he and his revamped campaign came through and their cause was aided by conservative base voters.

But this morning it is McCain who is getting some help with the conservative base:

CHARLESTON -- The McCain campaign is touting a major endorsement tomorrow set for Greenville, South Carolina.

It's Sen. Tom Coburn, the Senate's resident earmark curmudgeon and staunch social conservative doctor.

The campaign hopes the endorsement will kick-start four days of intense campaigning here with a jolt of momentum that yesterday's Michigan primary did not provide.

Maverick needed this one, big time as his conservative street cred is in question. Coburn is a hero to the conservative base, mostly for his anti-spending crusade. However, while Coburn is pro-life and good on the social issues in general, that has not been the emphasis of his Senate career (much like McCain). As such, it remains to be seen whether a Coburn endorsement can allay the concerns of social conservatives with regard to Maverick. One such social conservative is Rick Santorum:

Santorum’s criticisms cut to the heart of conservative concerns about McCain: that he’s not a conservative, that he’s been damaging to conservative causes while in the Senate, and that he would be no friend to conservatives — never mind being one himself — in the White House.

In an interview with Mark Levin on Levin’s radio show Thursday night, Santorum went so far as to call McCain “very, very dangerous for Republicans” on domestic policy. Santorum said: “I just have to tell you, as a leader, as someone who had to put these coalitions together, it was always hard and we very rarely on domestic policy had any help from the Senator from Arizona.”

Santorum told Levin: “The bottom line is that I served 12 years with him, 6 years in the United States Senate as leader, one of the leaders of the Senate — the number-3 leader — who had the responsibility of trying to put together the conservative agenda, and almost at every turn on domestic policy, John McCain was not only against us, but leading the charge on the other side.”

I suspect the Coburn endorsement will not change this dynamic. Coburn's main issue is fiscal restraint, and that is why he has endorsed John McCain. Coburn knows that McCain is a grumpy old guy who hates big government (much like himself...just not as old) and that he will not hesitate to veto pork-filled spending bills. From my vantage point, this -- not McCain being a well rounded conservative -- is the driving force behind this endorsement.

As much as he may wish it did, this does not change McCain's record.