WASHINGTON (AFP) - Battle-scarred John McCain is stealthily reviving a once-moribund White House campaign, and staking out a stand in New Hampshire, the scene of his greatest political triumph.
"We're on a roll," McCain, a Vietnam war veteran, said Monday as he plotted an unlikely course through the chaotic Republican field, less than three weeks before the first 2008 nominating contests.
Once the Republican heir apparent, McCain's campaign plunged close to extinction this year, as a cash crunch and his unpopular support for the Iraq war and moderate line on illegal immigration took a toll.
But McCain, 71, who had called for years for more troops in Iraq, sees signs of success for the current US troop surge strategy as a springboard to relaunch a campaign based heavily on the "war on terror."
"Our next president will face two wars and an array of national security challenges around the world," the Arizona senator said in South Carolina Saturday.
"My experience, knowledge and background
have prepared me to confront these great challenges and lead as commander in
chief from day one."
The former fighter pilot was shot down over Vietnam and endured five years of torture and heartache in the infamous "Hanoi Hilton" prison, before later carving out a reputation as a rebel in Washington.
Frequently mocking himself as "older than dirt," McCain is a darling of reporters, though rivals have made hay from his sharp temper.
"Do I have a, quote, 'hot temper?' No, but if I lose my capacity for anger, then I shouldn't be in public service," McCain told NBC.
Recently, he staked out fierce opposition to the use of torture on terror suspects, and unusually for a Republican candidate, called for a serious effort to tackle global warming.
Now, showing new life in New Hampshire, where he won the primary in his unsuccessful 2000 campaign against George W. Bush, and in national polls, McCain is basking in high-profile endorsements.
The Des Moines Register, the only state-wide paper in Iowa picked him as its top Republican candidate, despite the fact he trails badly in polls before the Iowa caucuses, the first 2008 nominating clash, on January 3.
McCain also won the backing of the Boston Globe, which has a wide circulation in New Hampshire, and Monday added the endorsement of Al Gore's 2000 Democratic running-mate Joseph Lieberman.
"If this were an ordinary time and an ordinary election, I probably would not be here today," Lieberman said.
"But this is no ordinary time -- and this is no ordinary election -- and John McCain is no ordinary candidate."
The endorsements sent a jolt of enthusiasm through the McCain camp.
"Good things happen to the best presidential candidate, and that's exactly what's happening to John McCain," said campaign manager Rick Davis in a fundraising email.
The 2008 Republican field is notoriously fluid, and the party's various factions are yet to converge around a consensus candidate: a scenario which has given McCain a second chance.
In an average of recent polls by RealClearPolitics.com, McCain is on 18 percent in New Hampshire, behind long-time front-runner Mitt Romney on 32 percent.
Romney however, has lost his long-time lead in Iowa to surging former pastor Mike Huckabee, and some experts believe a loss in the midwestern state could wound him in New Hampshire and provide an opening for McCain.
"This race, on both sides, is probably in a greater state of flux than any in recent memory -- but we see the opening and we're moving up," McCain told NBC Monday.
After he was squashed by Bush's charge to the White House in 2000, McCain tried to build ties to influential religious conservatives.
But he often looked uncomfortable in the effort, and his minor revival in 2008 has come after a return to the straight-talking style which helped him win over independent voters in 2000.
Independents will be important in the New Hampshire primary on January 8, and McCain's effort to court them again may get a boost from Lieberman, who sits as an independent in the Senate, after parting with Democrats over Iraq.
Despite being designated Republican front-runner, McCain, got a slow start, suffering from weak fundraising, and profligate overspending early this year.
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