Below The Beltway

The National Rifle Association is getting involved in the Presidential race:

WASHINGTON (AP) — The National Rifle Association is turning to Hillary Rodham Clinton to bolster its criticism of Barack Obama’s positions on gun issues.

The NRA’s Political Victory Fund planned a national newspaper ad Thursday reviving a Clinton mailing that accused Obama of waffling on gun issues. Clinton’s campaign sent the mailing when the New York senator was challenging Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination. It accuses Obama of changing his statements on gun issues to try to fit the audience he was addressing.

“Hillary was right: You can’t trust Obama with your guns,” says the NRA political action committee’s ad, scheduled to run in USA Today. The PAC has spent at least $2.3 million on anti-Obama efforts, including more than $100,000 on the new USA Today ad.

The NRA ad includes a reproduction of Clinton’s mailing, which mentioned Obama’s comment at an April fundraiser in San Francisco that some small-town voters bitter about lost jobs “cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”

“We believe that he’s trying to fog the issue and confuse the voter, and he says he’s for the Second Amendment while he votes to run the firearms industry and the Second Amendment out of business,” Wayne LaPierre, the NRA’s executive vice president, said in an interview Wednesday with The Associated Press.

So they’re going to endorse McCain, right ?

Well, as Jason Pye notes at the Bob Barr `08 blog, the NRA hasn’t been a fan of McCain over the years:

In 2001, NRA President Wayne LaPierre said, “Is it possible that John McCain thinks you have too much freedom?” According to NewsMax, LaPierre was angry over advertisements McCain appeared in for Americans for Gun Safety, an anti-Second Amendment group who’s website now points to the Brady campaign, and McCain-Lieberman, a bill designed to close the so-called “gun show loophole.”

After appearing in the ads, the NRA called McCain, “one of the premier flag carriers for the enemies of the Second Amendment” and “the poster boy for Americans For Gun Safety.” Strong words.

By the way, McCain’s position hasn’t changed on the “loophole” issue.

As early as April of this year, NRA Executive Director Chris Cox told The Hill, “John McCain still has some work to do” to gain the trust of the NRA. Cox added, “Truth be told, he’s not there yet.”

In 2004, the NRA issued lifetime rankings of all members of Congress. Sen. McCain received a “C+”, indicating a mixed record on the Second Amendment.

Bob Barr has an “A+” lifetime rating from the NRA. Bob serves on the board of the NRA. His record on the Second Amendment is without question.

It would certtainly be a bold step if the NRA were to essentially tell it’s membership that neither major-party candidate is worthy of their vote, but there is at least one hint that it won’t happen:

The NRA has not yet endorsed a presidential candidate. LaPierre planned news conferences Thursday in Pennsylvania, Missouri, Colorado and Nevada to make an announcement on the presidential election. He declined Wednesday to reveal which candidate the NRA would endorse but added that the group would “be foolish to overlook the vast areas of agreement” it has with John McCain.

Instead, the NRA would overlook the vast areas of disagreement it has with McCain. If that happens, it wouldn’t be a surprise; after all, the NRA was actively trying to discourage Dick Heller from taking his history making case to the Supreme Court.

They’ll probably sell out this time too.