Former Republican presidential nominee John McCain blames the influence of Super PACs in the 2012 Republican primary race for the “heightened negativity” of the race thus far.
Appearing on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday, Mr. McCain characterized the 2012 Republican primary race as being even more negative and personal than his own 2008 White House bid against President Barack Obama.
The Arizona senator endorsed former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney during the week leading up to the New Hampshire Republican primary election in January.
Although Mr. McCain blames Super PACs for the negative tone of the race, the candidate he endorsed enjoys one of the most influential Super PACs of any of the remaining Republican presidential candidates.
Through the end of January, the pro-Romney Super PAC Restore Our Future had spent more than $17 million on advertisements, mostly attack ads against former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
On Sunday, Mr. McCain expressed his feelings that he would rather not see Restore Our Future or any of the candidates’ Super PACs having the ability to raise unlimited amounts of money to spend on attack ads.
“I’ve been in very tough campaigns. I don’t think I’ve seen one that was as personal, and characterized by so many attacks, as these are. Frankly, one of the reasons is the super PACs,” said Mr. McCain Sunday.
The veteran senator took a shot at Mr. Gingrich for his Super PAC Winning Our Future, which is receiving substantial amounts of funding from Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson.
“We now have a casino mogul that’s what, up to about 20 million dollars and alot of that money is coming from his proceeds from his casino overseas, including China,” said Mr. McCain. “I think it has to do with the unlimited money, I do not believe I have ever seen campaigns characterized overwhelmingly by negative attacks.”
Recent primary victories by former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum, a Pennyslvania Republican, show that millions of dollars spent on attack ads by Mr. Romney and Mr. Gingrich are starting to lose their affect on voters. Mr. Santorum has struggled to raise as much money as his rival candidates, relying more on his socially conservative campaign message.
Mr. Santorum also leads Mr. Romney and Mr. Gingrich in recent polls of Republican voters nationwide.
Mr. McCain also stated that he believes the negative tone of the Republican primary race will prove to be advantageous to President Obama in the fall.
