Collegiate Times

After basically declaring that his campaign would be dead with a defeat in the Michigan Republican presidential primary, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney scored a decisive victory in the state on Tuesday.

Once the votes were tallied, the former governor led Arizona Senator John McCain 39 percent to 30 percent. McCain was hoping to garner support from Independents and Democrats who are allowed to switch over and vote in any primary in Michigan.

Undoubtedly, McCain's strategy has to be discouraging to conservative Republicans. If a candidate is openly trying to attract support from the opposition, then he might not be the best option in the general election.

In the past, conservatives have had many qualms with McCain. His campaign finance reform legislation seemed to directly violate the First Amendment of the Constitution.

In limiting the rights of people to donate money in support of candidates and restricting when political advertisements could be run, his legislation contradicts the idea of free speech.

Moreover, before the presidential election season heated up, McCain was in favor of what amounted to an amnesty bill for illegal immigrants - something that once again angered the conservative base of the party. His views were basically in line with those of Ted Kennedy and Hillary Clinton.

Back then, he took no initiative in securing the border or cracking down on illegal aliens in the country now. Since that time however, he has changed course because he realizes that his previous position was not attractive.

Furthermore, when President Bush first proposed his across-the-board tax cuts, the senator opposed them. In hindsight, he was wrong on the issue because now the federal government is taking in more revenues than ever before.

Undeniably, this shows that the tax cuts were the right option for trying to balance the budget.

Whenever people are given more of their own money back, the economy is stimulated. In turn, this allows people to spend more and economic activity is increased. And every time money is spent, taxes are collected.

This basic conservative principle is at the core of a common sense philosophy that contradicts the idea that raising taxes will increase revenue. Instead, higher taxes dampen economic activity. Apparently on this issue, McCain sided with the liberal philosophy.

Although Romney has previously shown liberal tendencies, his situation is a bit different from that of McCain. In being the governor of possibly the most liberal state in the union, a politician simply has to compromise to accomplish things.

On the other hand, a senator from the much more conservative state of Arizona could afford to stand on principles.

However, McCain has consistently shown that he is decidedly moderate to put it lightly. Certainly, he does not stand for basic conservative principles.

Without a doubt, the liberal mainstream media would love to see the most left-leaning of the Republicans win the nomination.

When McCain won the New Hampshire primary, the media hailed him as the "comeback kid." At the same time, it was said that if Romney didn't win Michigan he would be finished.

Now that Romney has won a major primary, the media did not explode with excitement as they did for McCain. Instead, they simply dismissed his victory stating that Romney made his way back into the fray.

In the current presidential race, Mitt Romney has emerged as the leading conservative candidate in the Republican party.

McCain has stuck to his "independent" philosophy, which alienates conservatives. His record as well as his love affair with the liberal media clearly shows that he is not the right candidate for conservatives or for the Republican Party.

Hopefully, once more conservative states begin voting in the primary, the buzz about John McCain will come to an end once and for all.