Should Fred "hit" McCain?

I have been hearing a lot of calls for Fred to attack Senator McCain. Certainly Senator McCain has gained momentum thanks to the publicity following his win in New Hampshire. With that attention will come some attacks from different quarters, and the urge to attack the perceived frontrunner.

While people have encouraged the campaign to attack McCain, Fred has not done so. Frankly, I support the strategy, at least for the present. For now, Fred must resist the calls to attack Senator McCain.

Fred has established that this Republican primary is a battle for the heart and soul of the national Republican party. To win the fight for the heartsand minds of the Republicans, Fred must first establish himself as the standard-bearer for the conservative wing of the party, the philosophical heir of Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan.

Fred has established his conservative bonafides. No one disputes that he is a consistent conservative. However, there are still pretenders to the conservative mantle: Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney. (For better or worse Duncan Hunter is not a factor. He is a good Republican and a conservative, but not really a factor.)

Both Governor Huckabee and Governor Romney are flawed. Governor Huckabee is a pro-life liberal. Governor Romney has taken some strong conservative positions during the campaign. However, only time will tell whether these are really his positions. In order to become the conservative standard bearer, Fred must first defeat the conservative pretenders, or at least knock them back considerably.

So right now, Fred is not in direct competition for votes with Senator McCain as much as he is in direct competition with Governor Huckabee and Governor Romney. To start a war of words with Senator McCain at this point would not be prudent. You can not fight on all fronts at all times. It just does not work. Fred has chosen the candidate with whom he is in most direct competition, Mike Huckabee, and has drawn some very strong contrasts.

Once Fred wins South Carolina and emerges from Super Tuesday with some other victories (say Georgia and Tennessee), it will be more clear that he is the conservative leader. As the Giuliani campaign continues to deteriorate, the Rockefeller Republicans will look to their second choice, and that second choice will probably be Senator McCain.

Then the time will come when Fred is matched up against Senator McCain. Fred would be the Reagan to McCain's Ford, or the Goldwater to McCain's Rockefeller. Then the strong contrasts will abound, but not until then. First things first.