From Swamp Politics...Fort Walton Beach, Fla. - Armed with a contingent of high profile veterans and former prisoners of war, Sen. John McCain hammered home his core message of keeping the nation safe from terrorism as he wooed voters in this heavily military region of the state before flying to New York to pick up cash and a key endorsement.
"As president, I'd like to serve this nation a little while longer and I'm asking for your support," McCain said at one of his largest events of the campaign at the Fort Walton Beach Convention Center. "And here, all across North Florida, is where I will be depending upon our veterans. I will be depending upon our servicemen and women."
Congressional medal of honor recipient Bud Day, McCain's roommate in prison, accompanied McCain, offering a quiet but powerful endorsement. He and a group of prominent veterans are also campaigning separately for McCain this week in Panama City, Tallahassee, and Jacksonville, among other areas where the military is predominant.
McCain raced up to New York in the afternoon for a fund-raiser that brought in more than $1 million, said Charles Black, his senior adviser.
And, in what could be construed as a slight to former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Sen. Alfonse M. D'Amato, a powerhouse in New York politics, gave McCain a ringing endorsement.
"This is a man whose time is here, who will restore
confidence and people will have confidence in what he says not only here in
America, but in the world," D'Amato said. "He will be in my opinion, the
strongest Republican candidate _ and for those of you who say, well, I disagree
with him on one issue or another – if you want to win in November, John McCain –
he's the man."
Two new polls in New York, which holds its primary on Feb. 5, show McCain leading Giuliani by double digits.
In Florida, however, McCain is in a dogfight with Giuliani, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.
McCain got some help today from Sen. John Warner, the former chairman of the Armed Services Committee and the former Secretary of the Navy, who served in World War II and Korea.
"You need somebody who doesn't need any on the job
training when he walks into the White House and that's John McCain," Warner said
in Pensacola to a gymnasium full of voters. "John understands the challenges and
threats that face America today and really have never faced any other
president."
While McCain always talks about the economy and ticks off his plan for reducing spending, cutting corporate income tax rates and maintaining President Bush's tax cuts, he primarily offers himself to voters as a person who has been tested and is prepared to lead the nation and tackle its national security problems.
"These are difficult and dangerous times in the world. I've spent my life preparing to lead this nation. I have the knowledge and the background, and the experience and the judgment," McCain said in Pensacola.
"If we didn't face the transcendent challenge of radical Islamic extremism, I might not be running for president of the United States," he confided. "This challenge is myriad, this challenge is difficult, it's multifaceted and it's going to take everything we've got. And I know how to lead this nation."
The crowds at McCain's campaign events greeted his red-meat rhetoric warmly.
"The Democrats were wrong when Harry Reid stood on the floor of the Senate and said the war was lost. They were wrong when they said we couldn’t succeed militarily, we couldn’t succeed politically," McCain said to cheers.
"Senator Clinton was wrong when she told General David Petraeus 'I would have to suspend disbelief' to believe the surge is working," he recounted. "You would have to suspend disbelief to believe the it's not working!"
"I'm not asking the Democrats to apologize. No, don't apologize. But you were wrong and now it's time for us to return to the old tradition, that partisanship ends at the waters edge," said McCain.
"And I reach out my hand out to the Democrats – now let's work together to get this job done in Iraq," he said. "Make this world safe, fight back al qaeda and Put your country above your party!"
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