McCain Articles 12/20/07

ABC News’ Political Radar Blog: Kissinger: McCain Best For 'Difficult And Complicated' Times By Bret Hovell Henry
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2007/12/kissinger-mccai.html

New York Sun: In A Rare Move, Kissinger Endorses McCain By Seth Gitell
http://www.nysun.com/pf.php?id=68421&v=2408418911

Union Leader: Polls Show McCain Gains By Garry Rayno
http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Polls+show+McCain+gains&articleId=3e6505e5-9ace-4844-afec-c09d34f03ea7

Arizona Republic’s McCain Central Blog: McCain On The Move In New Hampshire By Dan Nowicki
http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/DanNowicki/13044

Boston Herald: Meanwhile, McCain Might Pull A Lazarus Act By Wayne Woodlief
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/opinion/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1054894

McCain Media 12/14/07

Salmon Press (NH): New Hampshire’s Salmon Press Endorses Sen. John McCain http://www.salmonpress.com/118241.112113body.lasso

John McCain Articles 12/12/07

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/1212wed1-12.html

Arizona Republic: Listen To McCain

Editorial

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http://www.goupstate.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20071212&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=712120353&SectionCat=NEWS01&Template=printart

Spartanburg Herald Journal (SC): Sticking To His Guns

McCain believes he's still GOP's best hope

By Jason Spencer

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http://www.greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071212/NEWS01/712120376/1011&template=printart

Greenville News (SC): McCain Sets Veterans' Health Care As Priority

Candidate reiterates waterboarding opposition

By Dan Hoover

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http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2007/12/11/politics/fromtheroad/entry3606304.shtml

CBS News’ From The Road Blog: McCain Blasts MoveOn.org - Again

By Andante Higgins

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http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2007/12/mccain-vows-he.html

ABC News’ Political Radar Blog: McCain Vows He Won't Let Dems 'Lose This War'

By Bret Hovell

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Associated Press: Swift Says Democrats Will Brand Romney 'Flip-Flopper'

By Glen Johnson
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) _ Jane Swift, the acting governor whom Mitt Romney elbowed aside to make his own gubernatorial run in 2002, warned New Hampshire voters Tuesday it would be a mistake to nominate her fellow Republican for president because Democrats could eviscerate him as a ''flip-flopper'' in the general election campaign.

''Politics is a definition game. If candidates don't successfully define themselves, others will gladly do it for them. Being defined as a chronic flip-flopper will make Mitt Romney particularly vulnerable,'' Swift wrote in an op-ed piece for The Union Leader, the state's largest newspaper.

Swift, who has endorsed Romney rival John McCain in the nomination contest, said Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton would surely attack Romney for changing his views on abortion, and his emphasis on other issues, if she emerges as her party's nominee.

''In a Romney-Clinton matchup, Democrats need only take a page from the George W. Bush playbook: Undermine the voters' sense that Romney can be trusted by highlighting the number of times he's conveniently changed his mind. And don't forget: He will have to do some more flipping if he becomes the party's nominee. Romney would have to tack back toward the middle _ where most American voters comfortably sit _ in order to win. That might just be a flip-flop-flap,'' Swift wrote.

The Romney camp replied with a tart statement underscoring the enmity between the two former allies.

''You can tell the McCain campaign is in desperate straits when they look down their bench of surrogates and the only person sitting there is Jane Swift, who left the state in worse shape than she found it,'' Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom said. ''Mitt Romney turned things around by cleaning up Jane Swift's budget mess, and he has the experience, the vision and the values to fix what's broken in Washington.''

Swift's column completes a trifecta for Massachusetts gubernatorial involvement in the New Hampshire campaign in recent weeks.

Swift's running mate, former Gov. Paul Cellucci, held a rally in front of the Massachusetts Statehouse late last month to accuse Romney of increasing spending and failing to deliver on promised tax cuts during his four years in office. Cellucci is backing former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Last week, the Romney campaign responded by inviting former Gov. William F. Weld to a day of campaign events, where he toasted Romney's fiscal stewardship and urged primary voters to back him. Weld has not only endorsed Romney, but worked vigorously to raise money for him.

In her op-ed, Swift recalls her own political history with Romney.

Swift, then lieutenant governor, succeeded Cellucci as acting governor in 2001 when he resigned to become U.S. ambassador to Canada. She planned to mount her own campaign for governor in 2002, but tearfully stepped aside after Romney returned from the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics and made it clear he would challenge her for the nomination.

''As a Massachusetts state senator, I was one of Mitt's early supporters in his 1994 contested primary for the U.S Senate. As acting governor of Massachusetts in 2002, I ended my own campaign for the Republican nomination to give Romney the best opportunity to beat the Democratic candidate that November,'' Swift wrote.

''Once elected governor, however, Romney began his transformation of consciousness. His flip flops on social issues are well documented,'' she added. ''As his national ambitions grew larger, it seems Massachusetts grew smaller in Romney's rearview mirror. The governor who promised to be the salesman-in-chief for his state's economy instead toured the country using us as the butt of his jokes.''

Swift closed with a pitch for McCain that itself included jabs at Romney.

''I have great admiration for John McCain because he sticks to his beliefs, even when they are not politically popular,'' she wrote. ''We disagree on important social issues, but I know where he stands and why.''

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http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/DanNowicki/12401

Arizona Republic’s McCain Central Blog: Cindy McCain: My Husband Can Beat Hillary Clinton

By Dan Nowicki


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http://www.opinionjournal.com/forms/printThis.html?id=110010979

Wall Street Journal: That Does Not Compute

Mitt Romney Has A Passion For Data. A Great President Needs A Passion For Principle.

By Jeffery Lord

Mitt Romney loves data and lusts after process.

McCain Articles and Media 12/2/07

The Buzz - Fox News
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ah5kEoTXVjg

Union Leader Endorsement - John McCain is the Man to Lead America
http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=John+McCain+is+the+man+to+lead+America&articleId=dfca72c2-4a23-49e5-943f-1d85256f45cc

To know him is to, well, come to like him. Really. That is the untold story of John McCain. I should know... Granite Grok
http://granitegrok.com/blog/2007/12/to_know_him_is_to_well_come_to_like_him.html

Washington Post: Principles Amid The GOP Pack
By David Broder
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/30/AR2007113001788_pf.html

http://www.foxnews.com/projects/pdf/FOX_NH_2008_release113007_web.pdf
Romney 29%
McCain 21%
Giuliani 19%
Huckabee 7%
Paul 4%
Thompson 4%

John McCain - Media and Articles 11/16/07

LOVE AMERICA ENOUGH TV AD
http://www.johnmccain.com/tvads/

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ABC News: Back From Iraq, McCain Focuses On New Hampshire
Republican Contender Attempts to Set Himself Apart From Pack in New Hampshire
By Ron Claiborne
http://www.abcnews.go.com/print?id=3905857

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Washington Post: Decency On Immigration
Apart from John McCain, it's hard to find that quality in the Republican presidential contest.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/23/AR2007112301493_pf.html

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Union Leader: Tom Kean: John McCain Is Best Prepared To Defend And Protect America
http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Tom+Kean%3a+John+McCain+is+best+prepared+to+defend+and+protect+America&articleId=ff2d68e4-1808-4137-88e9-c0d369312eef

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Nashua Telegraph: McCain Looks To Rekindle '00 Vibe

By Kevin Landrigan

CONCORD – Republican presidential hopeful John McCain hopes to complete the resurrection of his 2008 candidacy in New Hampshire by starring in a new TV ad cast in an old role – fiery maverick.

The commercial is clearly meant to assure Republican primary voters that even after campaign stumbles, a messy fight over immigration and an unpopular war in Iraq, he remains the same patriot who makes the establishment angry.

McCain, Arizona's senior senator, speaks to the camera during the entire, 60-second ad scheduled to air today on New Hampshire television stations.

"I might not like the business-as-usual crowd in Washington. But I love America. I love her enough to make some people angry," McCain concludes.

The ad highlights McCain's unapologetic support for campaign finance reform and the latest troop surge in Iraq, while railing against pork-barrel spending and the Pentagon's early strategy in the war.

"I didn't go to Washington to win the Mr. Congeniality award," McCain said in the ad. "I went to Washington to serve my country."

McCain produced a similar commercial that aired about the same time as this one eight years ago during his first White House run.

"Sen. McCain is very comfortable communicating directly to the voters, whether it's in his town hall meetings or broadcast messages like this one," said Michael Dennehy, McCain's political director.

"He wants the citizens of New Hampshire to know he's the same guy they saw in 2000, someone who will stand up to the special interests and is no friend of the status quo."

In that 1999 commercial, McCain vowed to fight the special interests, reform campaign finance laws, cut taxes, reduce the federal deficit and save Social Security.

Today, McCain's critics publicly condemn him for joining liberal Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., and President Bush to propose a pathway to citizenship for the nation's 12 million illegal aliens.

Those critics also privately question if McCain, 71, can offer a fresh change most voters say they want and if he can defeat a better-financed Democratic nominee in November 2008.

On one level, McCain's ranting at "business as usual" could be seen as a shot at an unpopular president who ignored his sharp criticism and his pleas for more American combat troops early on in Iraq.

"I made the Pentagon angry when I criticized Rumsfeld's Iraq strategy, and I upset the media when I supported the strategy that's now succeeding," McCain declared in the ad.

For McCain, the spot tries to bring him full circle back to the underdog role he played seven years ago against then-candidate George W. Bush and parlayed into a crowning victory in New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary.

Three weeks after the New Hampshire vote in 2000, Bush routed McCain in South Carolina and coasted to the Republican nomination.

This nostalgic ad ignores the reality that McCain was the early, wealthy front-runner through all of 2006 and nearly half of this year.

By June, however, that had all vanished, thanks to his campaign's own runaway spending, his unpopular stance on immigration with the conservative base and, at times, a more cautious candidate on the stump.

McCain nosed past former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani into second place in the latest independent poll of likely GOP primary voters from CNN/WMUR.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney still holds onto a healthy lead in the survey, though, 33 percent to 18 percent for McCain.

New McCain Clinton Giuliani Map

Updated Condensed Electorate Map Available - Click for larger image.

















Updated Original Electorate Map Available - Click for larger image.

McCain from Around the Web

Reprinted from - http://mccain08olc.blogspot.com/2007/11/mccain-from-around-web.html

Halperin’s The Page: Poll: McCain Does Best Against Clinton
By Mark Halperin

Fox News: Fox News Poll: McCain Performs Best Against Clinton; Giuliani, Clinton Hold Double-Digit Leads In Nomination Races
By Dana Blanton

Sacramento Bee (CA): McCain Accepts Governor's Invitation To Debate Global Warming In N.H.By
Peter Hecht

New York Times: McCain Finds Sympathy On Torture Issue
By Marc Santora

Greenville News’ Hoover Blog: DeMint: Rebuke Not Aimed At McCain
By Dan Hoover

Pollster Blog: Poll: SurveyUSA GEs In OH, IA
By Eric Dienstfrey

The Pesky Rented Mule Returns
By The Illinois Review

John McCain Articles 11/16/07

http://thepage.time.com/2007/11/15/poll-mccain-does-best-against-clinton/
Halperin’s The Page: Poll: McCain Does Best Against Clinton
By Mark Halperin
Fox poll also shows McCain considered more trustworthy than Giuliani.
GOP: Giuliani– 33, McCain– 17, Thompson– 12, Huckabee– 8, Romney– 8
Dems: Clinton– 44, Obama– 23, Edwards– 1


http://www.sacbee.com/102/story/495694.html
Sacramento Bee (CA): McCain Accepts Governor's Invitation To Debate Global Warming In N.H. By Peter Hecht

Get Off the Couch for McCain

Reprint from http://mccain08olc.blogspot.com/2007/11/get-off-couch-for-mccain.html

I recieved this e-mail today from Joelle of the McCain Campain. I am taking a week off in (probably) early January to volunteer for the McCain Campaign in NH. If you have six weeks, great. If you have 6 hours, that probably works to.

Can you invest six weeks of your time to make history?

We need you at one of our offices in Iowa, New Hampshire, Michigan or South Carolina.
If you can relocate to one of the early primary or caucus states, please reply to this e-mail or send your contact information to: mccainvols@johnmccain.com

Thank-you!

Joelle Saliba

Please get back to Joelle if you can answer this call.

She can be reached at mccainvols (at) mccain08.com

John McCain - Articles and Media 11/14/07

Chicago Tribune: The GOP's Happy Warrior
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/chi-oped1114mccainnov14,1,1253569,print.story?ctrack=4&cset=true

Boston Globe: N.H. Poll: GOP Primary Stirring Independents
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/11/14/nh_poll_gop_primary_stirring_independents?mode=PF

Time’s Real Clear Politics Blog: A Moment For McCain?
Watch new McCain TV ad, called “Outrageous”
http://time-blog.com/real_clear_politics/2007/11/a_moment_for_mccain.html?xid=rss-rcp

McCain Ad - Outrageous
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TR5079To9Y

NYT John McCain - Character Factor

Reprinted from the New York Times - http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/13/opinion/13brooks.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin

November 13, 2007
Op-Ed Columnist
The Character Factor
By DAVID BROOKS
Rochester, N.H.

About six months ago, I was having lunch with a political consultant and we were having a smart-alecky conversation about the presidential race. All of sudden, my friend interrupted the flow of gossip and said: “You know, there’s really only one great man running for president this year, and that’s McCain.”

The comment cut through the way we pundits normally talk about presidential candidates. We tend to view them like products and base our verdicts on their market share at the moment. We don’t so much evaluate their character; we analyze how effectively they are manipulating their image to appeal to voters, and in this way we buy into the artificiality of modern campaigning.

My friend’s remark pierced all that, and it had the added weight of truth.

Eight years ago, it was fashionable for us media types to wax rapturously about McCain. That vogue has passed, but I’m afraid my views are unchanged. I have seen McCain when his campaign was imploding, and now again when he’s rising in the polls. I have seen him shooting craps and negotiating in the Senate. I have seen him leading delegations like a statesman and bickering with his old Hanoi Hilton prison-mate Bud Day like a crotchety old lady.

And I can tell you there is nobody in politics remotely like him.

The first thing that still strikes one about McCain is his energy. In his book, “The Nightingale’s Song,” Robert Timberg runs through primal force metaphors to describe the young McCain. “Being on liberty with John McCain was like being in a train wreck,” Timberg wrote.

Prison in Vietnam gave him self-respect and a cause greater than himself, but it didn’t diminish his dynamism. His office in the Senate isn’t tucked away in a tranquil corner of his suite; it’s right in the vortex, and it’s always empty because he’s walking around. Campaigning last weekend in New Hampshire, he was his old restless self, never alone, craving contact, conversation and fun.

Timberg wrote that McCain fought against the system at the Naval Academy as if it were some hostile organism, “as if any compromise meant surrendering a part of himself that he might never retrieve.”

The years and the Senate have smoothed some of his rebelliousness, but he still fights a daily battle against the soul-destroying forms of modern politics.

If you cover him for a day, you’d better bring 2,500 questions because in the hours he spends with journalists, you will run through all of them. Last Saturday, we talked about Pervez Musharraf’s asceticism and Ted Williams’s hitting philosophy, the Korean War and Hispanic voting patterns.

He analyzed the debates he won and the times he was wooden. He talked about his failures as a fund-raiser and said he’d like to pick a running mate with formal economics training because he’s weak in that area. He won’t tell you everything, but there will never be a moment as the hours stretch by when you feel that he is spinning you, lying to himself or insulting your intelligence.

Telling the truth is a skill. Those who don’t do it habitually lose the ability, but McCain is well-practiced and has the capacity to face unpleasant truths. While other conservatives failed to see how corporations were insinuating themselves into their movement, McCain went after Boeing contracts. While others failed to see the rising tide of corruption around them, McCain led the charge against Jack Abramoff. While others ignored the spending binge, McCain was among the fiscal hawks.

There have been occasions when McCain compromised his principles for political gain, but he was so bad at it that it always backfired. More often, he is driven by an ancient sense of honor, which is different from fame and consists of the desire to be worthy of the esteem of posterity.

Other Republicans used to accuse him of kissing up to the news media. But when the Iraq war was at its worst, and other candidates were hiding in the grass waiting to see how things would turn out, McCain championed the surge, which the major Republican candidates now celebrate.

He did it knowing that it would cost him his media-darling status and probably the presidency. But for years he had hated the way the war was being fought. And when the opportunity to change it came, the only honorable course was to try.

And now he pushes ahead, building momentum, but desperately needing a miracle win in New Hampshire. Everyone will make their own political choices, and you might plausibly argue that the qualities John McCain possesses are not the ones the country now requires. But character is destiny, and you will never persuade me that he is not among the finest of men.

That human point seemed worth remembering, even amid the layers of campaign pretense.

McCain Articles 11/12/07

John McCain addresses Senator Hillary Clinton’s wasteful spending at a town hall meeting in Rochester this Saturday
http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Multimedia/Player.aspx?guid=b75b3238-43a0-4a18-a897-adb6ef7c417d

Reports: Election 2008: Clinton Vs. McCain & Romney McCain Leads Clinton By Two While Clinton Tops Romney by Five
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_2008__1/2008_presidential_election/election_2008_clinton_vs_mccain_romney Rasmussen

Associated Press: McCain Says Kerik Reflects On Giuliani By Philip Elliott CONCORD, N.H.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/09/AR2007110900949_pf.html

Citizen (NH): McCain Gives, Receives Thanks At Ceremony By Gail Ober BOSCAWEN
http://www.citizen.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20071112&Category=GJNEWS02&ArtNo=711120031&SectionCat=CITIZEN&Template=printart Laconia

John McCain Articles 11/09/07

ABC News: Get To Know John McCain
http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=3832668

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The Hill’s Pundit Blog: John McCain Is Hitting Stride At Right Time By Frank Donatelli
http://pundits.thehill.com/2007/11/08/john-mccain-is-hitting-stride-at-right-time/

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American Spectator: The Comeback Kid By Jennifer Rubin
http://www.spectator.org/util/print.asp?art_id=12282

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Associated Press: GOP Presidential Hopeful McCain Campaigns In Michigan JACKSON, Mich. (AP) _ Republican presidential candidate John McCain stressed Michigan's importance to the Republican party Thursday during a campaign stop. He also said he has the most knowledge, background and experience _ particularly on military matters _ to represent the GOP in the race for the White House. ''Michigan is the heartland of America _ and we can't ignore it,'' McCain said after speaking to an outdoor crowd of a few hundred people in a city that touts itself as the birthplace of the Republican party. ''The state is one that has to be carried by a Republican. ... It is a bellwether state.'' He used the rally to reiterate his long-held support for the military surge in Iraq, while maintaining the war has been ''badly mismanaged.'' McCain, a prisoner of war in Vietnam from 1967 to 1973, also denounced the interrogation technique of waterboarding as torture. Later, the four-term Arizona senator held a media briefing at the Coleman A. Young International Airport in Detroit and was to fly to New Hampshire Thursday evening. A day earlier, McCain was endorsed by Kansas conservative and former presidential rival Sam Brownback.

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Detroit News (MI): McCain, Campaigning In Michigan, Says No To Torture Gordon Trowbridge / Detroit News Washington Bureau
http://www.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title=McCain%2C+campaigning+in+Michigan%2C+says+no+to+torture&expire=&urlID=24840414&fb=Y&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.detnews.com%2Fapps%2Fpbcs.dll%2Farticle%3FAID%3D%2F20071108%2FUPDATE%2F711080487%2F1361&partnerID=162731

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Arizona Republic’s McCain Central Blog: Women: McCain, Clinton Best For Military Families
http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/DanNowicki/10341

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Martin Blog: McCain Ups Buy In Boston Market
http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/1107/McCain_ups_buy_in_Boston_market.html Politico’s John

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National Review’s Campaign Spot Blog: In Pennsylvania, McCain, Giuliani Close To Clinton
By Jim Geraghty Quinnipiac
http://campaignspot.nationalreview.com/post/?q=OWU1YTlhNTI4M2MxM2JlYzAyMjgzNjlhNmJmODZhNmQ

John McCain Articles - 11/7/07

Associated Press: Former Candidate Brownback To Endorse Republican McCain For President
By Liz Sidoti

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) _ Sam Brownback, a Kansas conservative and favorite of evangelical Christians, will endorse his former Republican presidential rival John McCain, GOP officials said Wednesday. The nod could provide a much-needed boost, particularly in Iowa, for the Arizona senator and one-time presumed GOP front-runner whose bid faltered and is now looking for a comeback. Republican officials said Brownback will announce his support for McCain later Wednesday in Dubuque, Iowa, and then travel with the candidate to campaign in two other cities in the state. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid publicly pre-empting the announcement. It's uncertain how much weight the Brownback's backing will carry; the Kansas senator dropped out of the race last month with little money and little support. While he is a favorite of religious conservatives, he failed to persuade them to embrace him as the GOP's consensus conservative candidate. He spent months emphasizing his rock-solid opposition to abortion, gay marriage and other issues important to the party's right flank, but left the race ranking low in national polls and state surveys. Still, Brownback's backing could signal to evangelical Christians that they can trust McCain and could help solidify McCain's credentials on social issues. The endorsement could be especially important in Iowa, where McCain trails in polls.

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# Arizona Republic: McCain Rises To Second In 3 GOP Polls
By Dan Nowicki
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/1107mccain-polls1107.html

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John McCain Unamused With Rudy Giuliani's 'Deprivation'
By David Saltonstall
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/wn_report/2007/11/07/2007-11-07_john_mccain_unamused_with_rudy_giulianis-3.html

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New York Sun: McCain Backer Chides Giuliani Over Torture
By Russell Berman
http://www.nysun.com/pf.php?id=65992&v=6413344911

McCain Articles 11/05/07

Watch Sen. John McCain On CNN’s “Late Edition” with Wolf Blitzer
Part 1
Part 2

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http://thepage.time.com/2007/11/04/wash-post-abc-poll-shows-jump-for-mccain/

On Halperin’s The Page: Wash Post-ABC Poll Shows Jump For McCain

Ariz. Sen. moves up one year before election.

GOP: Giuliani 33, McCain 19, Thompson 16, Romney 11, Huckabee 9
Dems: Clinton 49, Obama 26, Edwards 12

Read full results on Bush, Iraq, Congress, national mood here.

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http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/11/mccain_plays_foreign_policy_ex.html

Time’s Real Clear Politics Blog: McCain Plays Foreign Policy Experience Card

By Reid Wilson

Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani are eager to point out that they have the experience necessary to run for president. Both point out that leading Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Barack Obama have not run a city, a state, or anything bigger than their Senate offices. And while both will not say so, they are indicting rivals John McCain and Fred Thompson with the same charge.

The argument may work for Thompson; he spent just eight years in the Senate and three years as a federal prosecutor. But McCain has spent the better part of thirty years in the Senate and House, serves as the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and has merited pundits floating his name for Secretary of Defense. In short, by any measure, no Republican candidate running for president has the foreign policy experience and credentials McCain boasts.

Watch any GOP debate and that experience gap becomes obvious. McCain "does not suffer fools lightly," said Rutgers political scientist Ross Baker. "He's experiencing a lot of frustration with the other Republicans when it comes to talking about Iraq." McCain's frustration portrays him as the only candidate who has finished the book, and who knows the ending; Giuliani and Romney are halfway through and forecasting an ending.

Other candidates, said Baker, "would just as soon not mention [Iraq], while [McCain] is much more committed to a military solution." McCain is willing, if not eager, to make Iraq the central issue to his campaign. "It's the issue around which, if we fail in Iraq, we fail every place else in the Middle East," McCain told Real Clear Politics. It's all the more important to the former Navy airman "because young Americans are in harm's way," he said.

After a summer in which McCain's campaign was rocked by internal turmoil, the senator saw his poll position improve as focus shifted back to Iraq in September. Many believed his association with the war in Iraq was the cause of that uptick, as he is the Republican who most credibly talks about the issue.

That credibility is something McCain plays up, primarily because he has long been critical of the war's execution. "I'm the only candidate who has enough knowledge and depth to have fought against the Rumsfeld strategy," he says, "even when other Republicans were accusing me" of disloyalty.

"He lives and dies on the, 'I'm more truthful,' and 'I've been there and done that,'" said Wake Forest University political communications expert Allan Louden. "McCain's not supporting [President] Bush, even as he is." McCain's support for the surge in Iraq is "laced with heavy criticisms," he said. To Republican voters tired of the war's mismanagement, "there is an appeal to that."

Contrast McCain's image on the war in Iraq with that of Romney, Giuliani or Thompson and McCain comes out ahead. Thompson, said Louden, seems inexperienced on foreign policy. Romney appears too slick and falsly optimistic. And Giuliani's emphasis on terrorism through the prism of September 11th is "one-note."

McCain's depth of knowledge and experience, from his time as a military man and in Congress, fosters a much stronger image. He takes issue with other candidates' lack of experience, most notably Romney's. "I'm frankly very encouraged by the events of the last seven or eight months," McCain says, speaking of the troop surge. "Governor Romney said, 'Apparently it's working.' It is working!"

Despite the bounce McCain received in September, he remains far behind front-runners in state and national polls. But, thanks to his prime target, Romney, McCain may have an opportunity to climb back into the race. Romney's big spending in Iowa has scared Giuliani into barely competing in the Hawkeye State, preferring instead to make his stand in much friendlier New Hampshire. Thompson has yet to make his presence felt in Iowa either.

Those absences leave a big void that McCain hopes to fill. His camp recently sent two mailings to Iowa caucus-goers, followed by automated telephone calls with a recorded message from McCain himself. "We're trying to compete everywhere," McCain said. "We recognize how important particularly the three early states are." McCain's Iowa state director, Jon Seaton, said he expects a "fairly aggressive" mail program to continue through the caucuses.

McCain would have a difficult time outpacing Romney in Iowa, but he might not have to. By simply placing second in a state many assume is impossibly hostile to him, McCain could benefit from a big boost going into his real target, New Hampshire. And while Romney and Giuliani are contesting the first primary state, McCain still sees the enthusiasm for his candidacy that existed in 2000. "I knew, on a Friday night when there was a Red Sox game in the [American League Championship] Series, and we still had a big turnout, that we were doing pretty well."

It also helps, in some ways, that Romney and Giuliani are aiming more at each other in New Hampshire. "Conventional wisdom, [McCain] has no chance," said Louden. But if Romney and Giuliani begin attacking each other, "he'll be what's left over." After this summer, "you'd think this collapse [of the campaign] will keep collapsing, but that hasn't happened."

Thanks to the war in Iraq, McCain is sticking around, and has even made something of a comeback. The campaign recognizes the success, and judging from McCain's attitude, he will continue, and likely sharpen, the distinctions. "I think I'm the most experienced and qualified, but I certainly respect the others," McCain told Real Clear Politics. "They just don't have the experience."

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Associated Press: McCain Takes Rivals To Task For Lack Of Military Experience

By Liz Sidoti

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) _ John McCain, a Vietnam war prisoner, argued Friday that his top rivals for the GOP nomination aren't qualified to deal with issues like torture _ or to be president in wartime _ because they never served in the military.

The Arizona senator's position on an interrogation technique that simulates drowning _ he says it constitutes torture and is illegal _ puts him at odds with Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson, who haven't taken such a hard line.

''There's a clear division between those who have a military background and experience in these issues and people like Giuliani, Romney and Thompson who don't _ who chose to do other things when this nation was fighting its wars,'' McCain told reporters after touring a shipyard in this military bastion.

He stood in a warehouse and focused on comments Giuliani made Thursday on CNBC. The former New York mayor said ''waterboarding'' should not be used in every circumstance, but he also left the door open to it.

''I'm very reluctant to take away presidential prerogatives and decision making, maybe because I've faced crisis more than the other ones have,'' said Giuliani, who was praised by many for his performance in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

McCain, a former Naval aviator who was tortured in his 5½ years in a North Vietnamese prison, responded: ''Mayor Giuliani just contradicted himself because anybody who has experience in warfare knows that waterboarding is by any definition torture and cannot be condoned. I do not know which crisis the mayor may have been talking about. My experience goes back to the Cuban missile crisis and every conflict we've been in since.''

Then, McCain broadened his broadside to also castigate Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, and Thompson, the former Tennessee senator, as well as Giuliani on Iraq. He argued they were ''nowhere to be seen when we were fighting a war with the wrong strategy.''

''I never saw Romney, Giuliani or Thompson say a word about it, except supporting what I clearly pointed out was a failed strategy,'' McCain added. He said he has called for more troops in Iraq since 2003 and saw President Bush embrace that proposal earlier this year. ''I don't think there's any greater indication of experience and knowledge of how wars should be fought and how crisis should be handled.''

All three campaigns dismissed the criticism.

Giuliani's spokeswoman, Maria Comella, said her boss has clearly stated that ''if we're going to defeat the terrorists then we must use aggressive questioning. And in those extraordinary circumstances, the president needs all options available to ensure the safety and security of Americans.''

Romney's spokesman, Kevin Madden, said the ex-governor is focused on the future and has the vision and experience to be president. Madden added: ''We will leave it to other campaigns to make the mistake of merely assigning blame about the past.''

Said Thompson spokeswoman, Karen Hanretty: ''We all respect Senator McCain's military service, however, there are many great Americans who have served this country and not worn its uniform.''

None of the three enlisted. Draft deferments kept Giuliani out of Vietnam while he attended law school and worked for a federal judge; he had twice been eligible for the draft. Romney received a draft deferment while serving as a missionary in France during the war. He was eligible for the draft later, but was not selected. Thompson, with a wife and child, was deferred from service.

McCain assailed his rivals on torture even as he defended his decision to vote for Michael Mukasey's nomination to be attorney general despite being troubled by the nominee's initial answers about waterboarding. McCain said was confident that Mukasey would not allow the method because of answers to written questions in which Mukasey said he did not believe that the president had the authority to violate existing law and that he believed waterboarding was ''a repugnant practice.''

On a three-day tour of this early-voting state, McCain visited Detyen's Shipyard, located on Dry Dock Avenue, and held a question-and-answer session with shipyard employees wearing hard hats and blue jeans as they took a midmorning work break.

He was in the state just as a new Winthrop University/ETV poll showed McCain's support having slipped in South Carolina since August. He's now at 9 percent, trailing Thompson, Giuliani and Romney who are tightly bunched in a fight for the lead.

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http://www.redstate.com/stories/elections/2008/im_off_the_fence_and_for_mccain

Red State Blog: I'm Off The Fence And For McCain

By Charles Bird

This will be my only front-page post in support of a Republican candidate for the nomination. John McCain has little to no chance of getting nominated, but I'm supporting him anyway. My reasons are backing him are a combination of things, having to do with my agreement with him on key issues and for what I see as shortcomings in the other candidates. The slate of candidates is imperfect, so my rationale was to go with the least imperfect one. My three main criteria for picking a president in this election cycle are national security, the economy, and integrity. As I see it, McCain is the most solid of the candidates in those categories, so let me go through them.

More below the fold...

National security. McCain has been stronger than the other candidates on this issue, in my opinion. I believe he is the most right on Iraq and national security. He rightfully criticized Bush and Rumsfeld for undermanning the war effort in Iraq and for our failing strategy, going against most of the other Republican Senators in particular and Republicans in general. Now that we are seeing clearer signs of success via more troops and a more workable strategy, we should give McCain credit for speaking out. We should also recognize that it was Bush who came around to McCain, not the other way around.

I think McCain is also right on the matter of coercive interrogations. Waterboarding, to name one technique, is illegal and it is torture. I'm confident that these methods work, but they're morally wrong and we shouldn't be using them unless there is a ticking time-bomb situation. Less importantly, I don't know how much intelligence we've garnered through such coercion, but I would have a hard time believing that the intelligence benefits received have exceeded the political costs paid, both domestically and internationally. It's a problem. My take is that we can win this War Against Militant Islamism without lowering our standards.

McCain was prisoner of war in Vietnam, and he was tortured, so his opinion about the practice carries a lot of weight with me. What's more, to this day he feels the effects that his captors levied on him. From Vanity Fair:

Like his friend Bob Dole, he tries to minimize his disabilities, but they are serious. He suffered severe injuries when his plane was shot down over North Vietnam 40 years ago; his right knee was broken when his seat was ejected from the cockpit, and both arms were broken in the crash. These injuries were compounded by the profound abuse he endured during five and a half years in captivity.

McCain seldom talks about the details of his torture by the North Vietnamese, but he has written about them in clinical depth. Despite the injuries he had already suffered, upon capture he was promptly bayoneted in the ankle and then beaten senseless. The North Vietnamese never set either of his broken arms. The only treatment of his broken knee involved cutting all the ligaments and cartilage, so that he never had more than 5 to 10 percent flexion during the entire time he was in prison. In 1968 he was offered early release, and when he refused, because others had been there longer, his captors went at him again; he suffered cracked ribs, teeth broken off at the gum line, and torture with ropes that lashed his arms behind his back and that were progressively tightened all through the night. Ultimately he taped a coerced confession.

McCain's right knee still has limited flexibility. Most of the time this is not too noticeable, but McCain mounts the steps onto planes with a herky-jerky gait. A climb up dozens of steps at the New Hampshire International Speedway, in Loudon, leaves him badly winded and sweating profusely. Because his broken arms were allowed to heal without ever being properly set, to this day McCain cannot raise his arms above his shoulders. He cannot attend to his own hair. An aide is often nearby with a comb and small can of hair spray.

McCain has difficulty putting on his suit jacket unassisted. Once, as we prepared to get out of a cramped airplane cabin in Burlington, Vermont, where McCain would be greeted by the governor, I turned my back for a moment, only to find him struggling. He could sense that his collar was all bunched up, and asked me matter-of-factly to help him straighten it out. I felt the pang that those around McCain feel whenever they realize the extent of his injuries. "You comb someone's hair once," his 2000 communications director, Dan Schnur, says, "and you never forget it."

Personally, I don't we should ever forget the sacrifices he made for his country and the injuries he sustained in defending it. When a man has been in such circumstances and vehemently rejects those methods used against him, I think we should listen.

The economy. McCain has a solid record on fiscal restraint and freer trade, both of which are conservative positions. Mike Huckabee's tepid support of free trade agreements is why I can't support him, for example.

Integrity. McCain speaks his mind, and oft times it gets him in trouble. I strongly disapprove of McCain-Feingold, especially the gag order in the 60-day period prior to election day, but I think his intentions were in the right place. I wouldn't judge too harshly against McCain about the bill. After all, George W. Bush signed the damned legislation into law. McCain is conservative on social issues, but not boisterously so.

Why not the other candidates? Giuliani has public integrity, but I'm troubled by his personal integrity. I'd rather not have a president on his third marriage and I'd rather not have a president who personally donated money to Planned Parenthood. He made soothing noises about appointing conservative judges, but Giuliani is too left-leaning for my taste.

For Romney, I think he's weaker than McCain on national security. As for Fred Thompson, he's probably my number two choice. But last July, Thompson was bombarded with negative news stories and he barely answered any of the charges. For a media-familiar character, Thompson has not handled media situations well. Thompson has similar positions as McCain on national security, but McCain gets the nod because he has more experience.

Immigration. McCain turned off a good number of conservatives by his support of the immigration bill last summer (I was mildly in favor of it). McCain has said that he has learned his lesson and that he would support "enforcement first" provisions. I take him at his word, just as I take Giuliani at his word that he would appoint judges in mold of Roberts and Alito.

Gang of 14. Many conservatives were irked about the Gang of 14 (and still are), but I'm telling you, liberals hate it even more. The dKos crowd was neutralized by this agreement, and we have two new conservative judges on the bench today. The results speak for themselves.

McCain's drawbacks. If elected, he would be 73 on inauguration day. But hey, 73 is the new 63.

McCain's temper and temperament have been issues. In 2000, I sided with Bush because I thought he had a better temperament for the job than McCain. In retrospect, I think I overemphasized that attribute. Back then, I voted for Bush over McCain because Bush came across as the more conservative candidate. Boy, was I wrong. In the last seven years, the person who has clearly made more conservative choices was McCain, not Bush.

Anyway, I've been angry and irritated with McCain's various antics over the years, but I gave him a second look and found his positions on the important stuff more than acceptable. I think all other conservatives should take that second look as well.

McCain Related Article 11/2/07

Associated Press: McCain On A Mission Of Redemption, Flying Closer To Alone
By Calvin Woodward
http://www.postbulletin.com/newsmanager/templates/localnews_story.asp?a=314089&z=16

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Time’s Real Clear Politics Blog: Head To Head In Florida
By Tom Bevan
http://time-blog.com/real_clear_politics/2007/11/head_to_head_in_florida.html

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Associated Press: Did Romney Up Taxes Or Close Loopholes?
By Steve LeBlanc

BOSTON -- Mitt Romney's Harvard MBA and gold-plated resume convinced many business leaders he would follow in the tradition of corporate-friendly Republicans when he was elected governor of Massachusetts in 2002.

Within three years, some had a vastly different opinion, after Romney's efforts raised the tax bill on businesses by $300 million as part of a multifaceted plan to eliminate a state budget deficit estimated from $2.5 billion to $3 billion.

Romney, who is now running for president declaring he never raised taxes as governor, says he merely closed "loopholes" in the tax code. Business leaders see things differently.

"These certainly were tax increases and a new source of revenue for the commonwealth," said Brian Gilmore, executive vice president of Associated Industries of Massachusetts, the state's largest business lobbying group.

"His indicating that he balanced a budget without raising taxes is misleading at best," Gilmore added. "We respectfully disagree."

Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom said the loophole closings were more about tax enforcement than tax increases.

"In cases where companies were using aggressive accounting to escape their tax liability in a way that was never intended by the law, we closed those loopholes," he said.

Nonetheless, Romney's tax loophole fervor was so infectious, it caught the attention of the Legislature's most liberal lawmakers, who ended up offering to help him hunt down more gaps in the tax laws.

They pushed Romney to roll back tax breaks approved in the 1990s to benefit defense and mutual fund companies like Raytheon and Fidelity _ a suggestion he rejected.

"There's going to be a lot of debate over the definition of what is a loophole and what is a break and what is a tax," Romney said during his first year in office.

On the stump, Romney boasts that he is the first Republican presidential candidate to sign a no-new tax pledge offered by the conservative Americans for Tax Reform. He did so in January, a day after he concluded his term as governor.

While Romney refused to sign a similar pledge in 2002 _ Fehrnstrom labeled it "political gimmickry" at the time _ today he criticizes GOP rivals like Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and Fred Thompson for not following suit.

He has also tried to winnow the GOP primary fight to a contest between him and Giuliani, in part by noting the former New York mayor sued to kill the presidential line-item veto in 1997 and the Supreme Court eventually found it unconstitutional.

Romney also lambastes Giuliani for threatening to sue former New York Gov. George Pataki, a fellow Republican, when he challenged a $400 million tax on commuters coming to New York City. The state Legislature repealed it in 1999.

Romney, however, speaks much less about his work raising tax revenues from businesses while courting fiscal conservatives and other Republican primary voters.

One of the biggest tax "loopholes" identified by Romney were real estate investment trust subsidiaries created by banks to hold mortgages. Parent banks received dividend income from the trusts and took advantage of deductions to lower their state taxes.

"The biggest loophole closing involved banks that were calling themselves real estate companies in order to avoid bank taxes," Fehrnstrom said. "Those were the types of abuses we stopped. That's called tax enforcement."

Revenue officials said there were between 50 and 60 real estate investment trust subsidiaries in Massachusetts when Romney signed the law in 2003 barring them and retroactively collecting the taxes back to 1999.

The banks sued and eventually reached a settlement with the state to pay about half of the retroactive taxes.

Businesses were also angry at Romney's incremental approach to tighten those laws.

Romney proposed such "loophole" closures over three successive years, but he hit a wall in 2005. Pressure from business leaders forced him to cut in half a proposal for $170 million in tax loophole closures. He also had to abandon a plan to give the state's top revenue officials authority to pursue corporations that lowered their tax bills by transferring profits outside Massachusetts.

"The thing that was irritating about it is that he kept coming back the following year. At that point, I was thinking, 'You already had your shot at the apple,'" said Bill Vernon, state director for the National Federation of Independent Business. "When you continue to do that, it has a negative impact on business."

Estimates of the total revenue increase generated by the business tax loophole closings range from about $300 million, as calculated by the national anti-tax Club For Growth, to $400 million, as calculated by the Associated Industries of Massachusetts.

The efforts to tighten tax laws are part of a larger, more complex history of Romney's tax record.

While governor, he succeeded in pushing a one-year rebate of $275 million in retroactive capital gains taxes, as well as tax credits for investment, manufacturing and research and sales tax holidays.

Romney and lawmakers also approved hundreds of millions in higher fees and fines during his four years in office.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/02/AR2007110200321_pf.html

John McCain Articles 10/30/07

Red State Blog: Why I Am Endorsing Sen. John McCain
By Jerry Zandstra
http://www.redstate.com/blogs/jerry_zandstra/2007/oct/29/why_i_am_endorsing_sen_john_mccain
Grand Rapid Press Blog: Zandstra Switches Endorsement To McCain
http://blog.mlive.com/grpress/2007/10/zandstra_switches_endorsement.html

U.S. News And World Report’s News Desk Blog: McCain Plans 'Comeback Kid' Surge
By Paul Bedard
http://www.usnews.com/blogs/news-desk/2007/10/30/mccain-plans-comeback-kid-surge-.html

Chicago Tribune: McCain's Wars

Shaped by Vietnam, he embraces Iraq in his maverick '08 run
By Jill Zuckman
Ft. Mill, S.C.

Ray Dunsmore, a restaurant manager and Vietnam veteran, stood before Sen. John McCain inside the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9138 and shyly told him the story of their connection.

It came from a discovery by Dunsmore's wife, Phyllis, who was rummaging through a box of old jewelry and found the POW bracelet her husband had worn until 1973, when American prisoners held during the Vietnam conflict were released.

He hadn't touched it for more than 30 years and didn't remember the prisoner's name. It was John McCain.

Dunsmore held up the metal bracelet -- part of a national effort to keep faith with prisoners of war and those missing in action in Southeast Asia -- and he and McCain embraced.

McCain, his voice low and husky, said he would be honored if Dunsmore kept the bracelet. Then he bent down and kissed Dunsmore's wife, thanking her for finding it.

That Friday night inside the smoky, cinder-block hall was just one in an endless string of stops for McCain as he uses his presidential campaign to make the case for the Iraq war, but with the specter of his Vietnam War experience always close at hand.

As he sat in a gray leather swivel chair aboard his "No Surrender" campaign bus, McCain was asked to measure the moment.

"Actually, it happens a lot," he said, shrugging off whatever emotions had just washed over him.

Which is to say that many people once wore his bracelet and later connected it to the remarkable life story of John McCain. The military pedigree of his family -- and McCain's heroic 5 1/2 years as a POW in Hanoi -- has been the stuff of books and a movie. The power of his life story provided voters in the 2000 presidential race with a window into his character and an explanation for his "straight talk."

Now, in 2008, as he runs for president a second time -- at age 71 -- McCain's Vietnam experience offers a way to understand what he is all about and his deep support for the Iraq war -- an issue that has helped hobble his campaign since the beginning of the year when he began his quest as the unquestioned front-runner for the Republican nomination. McCain's Vietnam experience also was part and parcel of the maverick, truth-telling persona that propelled him in 2000, crushing George W. Bush in New Hampshire. After Bush went on to win the GOP nomination and the presidency, McCain not only supported his former rival's decision to go to war, he went further than the Bush administration in a call for more troops, more equipment and a more aggressive strategy.

But McCain's highly public support for the president has angered some of his admirers. As he prepared to run for president again, McCain built a large, staff-laden organization. His aides expected him to be able to raise a formidable amount of money. They were wrong.

Instead, McCain saw his campaign crumble this summer. The president he had become so closely associated with has become even more unpopular than the war. McCain fired his top campaign aides who had churned through millions of campaign dollars, and he slashed staff.

He now finds his fundraising numbers compared to the campaign of libertarian Rep. Ron Paul instead of the financially formidable Rudy Giuliani. His poll numbers collapsed nationally and in important early voting states. What is more, he doesn't have an obvious group of people within his party's base to support him.

So by necessity more than design, McCain set out to reconnect with the spirit of his first campaign, returning to his live-off-the-land, win-them-with-candor approach. In the process, voters have begun to give him a second look. His is, after all, a life marked by second chances.

"McCain's two most dominant traits are his restlessness and his fortitude," said Mark Salter, McCain's longtime chief of staff and co-author of five best-selling books. "You just can't keep him down."

The son and grandson of four-star Navy admirals, McCain was just 5 years old when his father left to command submarines during World War II. His grandfather also served in that war, witnessing Japan's official surrender aboard the USS Missouri -- just five days later he died from a heart attack.

That McCain would follow his father and grandfather to the Naval Academy was never in doubt, but the record he left -- graduating fifth from the bottom of his class after years of carousing and rule breaking -- wasn't one of distinction.

It was the place, though, where his sense of what's right was forged, a deep-seated feeling that informs his decisions today to go against public opinion on issues such as the war in Iraq.

"Once he gets on the right course and he knows he's on the right course, he doesn't change direction," said George "Bud" Day, a retired Marine colonel and Medal of Honor winner who was McCain's prison cellmate.

Yet it is not always easy to understand McCain's capacity to go for long stretches virtually alone when no one else will stand with him.

Politically unpopular efforts such as his push for a broad overhaul of immigration laws, or his warnings about global climate change often seem to hurt more than they help him, at least among the Republican faithful.

His biographer, Robert Timberg, calls him "an equal opportunity antagonist," and attributes McCain's often solitary crusades to a sense of freedom earned after years of torture and near death in a North Vietnamese prison.

"I don't think there's any question that having survived what he survived and at the end of it, looking back and realizing what he had done to survive, I think that gave him a kind of steel," said Timberg, who chronicled McCain's life in "The Nightingale's Song."

McCain's path to prison began when his plane was shot down 40 years ago over Hanoi. While ejecting from the A-4E Skyhawk, McCain broke his right knee and both his arms, then crashed into a lake in the center of the North Vietnamese capital in broad daylight.

He nearly drowned, but a group of Vietnamese civilians and soldiers pulled him out, only to kick him, shove a bayonet into his left ankle and groin, and smash a rifle butt into his shoulder. Eventually he was carted off to the Hoa Lo prison, dubbed the Hanoi Hilton by its American captives.

Savage abuse

Like others, he was subjected to savage, continual abuse, as his captors broke his arm, leg and ribs, and knocked out his teeth. His spirit broke, too, and he tried unsuccessfully to kill himself after penning a forced -- and false -- confession.

"Everybody had a bad time. John had a worse time than most," said Mike Cronin, a Navy fighter pilot who spent six years in prison.

Because his captors knew McCain's father was a high-ranking Naval officer, they repeatedly offered McCain an early release to win a round in the ongoing propaganda war. He refused, earning himself additional beatings.

But when McCain and his fellow POWs are together on the campaign trail, they put a poignant, almost positive gloss on the stories they tell -- the tap code system they used to secretly communicate, the "classes" they taught each other, the religious services they held. They talked incessantly about how they would serve the nation if they ever left prison.

"I think we all felt if we got out, we had a special responsibility to keep contributing to the country," said John Borling, a retired U. S. Air Force major general who lives in Rockford.

McCain returned home to a hero's welcome and a stint as the Navy's Senate liaison on Capitol Hill. He later divorced his first wife and married his second, Cindy, starting a new life and a new family in Arizona. That new life included an immediate jump into elective politics, running and winning a House seat in 1982.

After two dozen years in Congress, McCain is making his second run for the presidency. But should he win, he would at age 72 be the oldest person ever to take office, as well as the first cancer survivor, after several bouts with melanoma.

To be sure, few candidates have run for president with such an inspiring personal story. The question now is whether that story is enough to persuade voters that he has what it takes to win the war and to win the fight against Islamic extremism.

McCain's challenge is to make his strong-willed persona a positive -- being resolute in the face of difficulty -- instead of seeming obstinate and unwilling to listen.

"What people don't want is someone who looks stubborn, because that's what they think they have now," said Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), McCain's partner on campaign finance legislation who opposes the war to the same degree that McCain supports it.

So, is McCain stubborn?

"He can be. He isn't always," said Feingold, adding that "his stubbornness was of enormous value on many occasions."

Stubborn or not, when some political observers declared his 2008 candidacy dead this summer, McCain soldiered on, arguing that he could out-campaign all of his better-financed opponents.

Legislatively, McCain has spent his career as the patron of seemingly lost causes. It took him seven years to change campaign finance laws to eliminate unlimited and unregulated political contributions. He spent 10 years trying to pass a line-item veto, though once he succeeded the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional.

He annoyed his colleagues in the Senate to no end as he fought the pork-barrel projects that they tried to attach to legislation.

Defied Reagan

He even defied his hero, President Ronald Reagan, by refusing to back Reagan's request for a War Powers Act to keep Marines in Lebanon. In an ironic echo of the debate over Iraq, McCain questioned the purpose of the troops' presence and called for a rapid withdrawal.

McCain's willingness to buck both conventional wisdom and his party has earned him the distrust of the political establishment but has also added to his appeal among voters.

"I prefer to think of John as the irritant that makes the oyster produce the pearl," said Paul Galanti, a fellow prisoner of war in Hanoi.

During the 4 1/2 years of the Iraq war, McCain has seemed increasingly isolated. As early as 2003, he was complaining that more troops were needed in Iraq and the troops already there did not have adequate resources. He was among the very first in 2004 to say he had no confidence in Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

"John saw the situation on the ground in Iraq differently than everybody else, or others saw it and were afraid to speak out," said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). "He was exercising leadership to his political detriment by arguing with the administration."

McCain, on the other hand, does not ascribe much nobility to his criticisms.

"It was like watching a train wreck," he said.

Support for Petraeus' strategy

In recent months, he has made it his campaign's core mission to rally support for the counterinsurgency strategy fashioned by Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq.

"This is a tough slog my friends;, this is a very tough slog," he told the veterans assembled in Fort Ft. Mill. But it is an essential fight, he says, to defeat the threat of terrorists.

"I believe with all my heart and everything that's in me that if we decide to leave Iraq there will be chaos, there will be genocide and they will follow us home," McCain said. "I'm not prepared to let that happen. We cannot choose to lose."

What about the political consequences?

"I don't know, and I don't care," he said emphatically, repeatedly insisting that he would rather lose a campaign than lose a war.

His wife, Cindy, similarly brushes off the political consequences, even as she tells audiences that her husband is the only candidate she would trust to oversee the war and make sure their two soldier sons come home safely.

"If we lose this race, it's not the end of the world. We have a great life; we have a great family," she said.

McCain continues to frame his campaign, as he did in 2000, as a cause, appealing to voters' sense of patriotism and duty.

"This is a crucial time in the history of this nation," he tells veterans over breakfast in Rock Hill, S.C. "It's do or die time for America."

In this presidential race, McCain has returned to his famed campaign bus and delights in answering all questions and regaling voters and reporters with cornball jokes.

He also makes fun of himself, like his story about being stopped in an airport by someone who says: "Did anyone tell you look just like Sen. John McCain?" he recounts. "Doesn't it make you mad as hell?"

On the campaign trail, McCain himself rarely talks about his time as a POW. Among other senators, Feingold says, McCain never brings it up, even when fighting the administration to outlaw the use of torture.

"On Foreign Relations [Committee] trips all over the world, we will even talk about torture on the plane, and he is the last person to reference his extremely challenging captivity," says Feingold.

Certainly, McCain insists, he does not romanticize war or its consequences. His war wounds left him unable to raise his arms above his shoulders or to comb his snow-white hair.

"There is no one who understands more than the veteran that war is a horrible thing," he said during a visit to the Hudson, N.H., VFW post. "There's nothing redemptive about it."

But there is something oddly familiar from one war to the next. Ray Dunsmore, and others like him, wore bracelets with John McCain's name on them more than three decades ago.

Today, McCain wears a black bracelet engraved with the name Matthew Stanley, a 22-year-old Army specialist who died in Baghdad shortly before last Christmas.

Stanley's mother, Lynne Savage, stood up at a town hall meeting in Wolfeboro, N.H., and told McCain that she wore a silver bracelet during Vietnam to support the troops.

Now, she asked, would McCain wear her son's bracelet?

"I told her I would do everything in my power to make sure her son's death was not in vain," he tells voters, the black metal band firmly around his right wrist.

"You know what their message to us is -- 'let us win, let us win' -- like they should have let us win in Vietnam a generation ago."