Election Note: A Confederate Campaign Issue

The battle-flag primary has officially begun. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said that flying the Confederate flag was a states’ rights issue at an Alabama campaign stop, while John McCain expressed regret on 60 Minutes about past flag flip-flops. South Carolina was the last state to fly the flag atop the statehouse, and McCain’s on-again, off-again condemnation helped cost him that state’s primary in 2000. The flag later came off the S.C. dome, but it remains a powerful political symbol. With G.O.P. front runners scrambling to establish conservative credentials, look for the issue to leave other ’08 candidates whipping in the political wind.