Mac's Extraordinary Comeback By Lee Bandy, The State

January 11, 2008

Article Excerpt

Buoyed by his recent victory in New Hampshire, John McCain declared, "We're going to win the (Republican presidential) nomination."

He had just toppled his chief rival, Mitt Romney, in an extraordinary comeback.

McCain's people couldn't believe it. Just this summer he had been given up for dead politically.
He lost his top staffers. He had run out of money. He had to shutdown campaign offices. He couldn't pay the rent. His campaign was dragging bottom.

Then thanks to an assist from loyal friends and neighbors - and the adoption of some serious belt tightening measures - McCain was able to right his campaign.

Today, the McCain campaign is hitting on all eight cylinders. And causing waves.

"Mac is back."

Today, the battleground for the Republican presidential nomination has shifted to South Carolina where each of the three leading candidates believes he has certain advantages.

The state's GOP presidential primary is set for Saturday, Jan. 19. It boils down to a three-man battle between McCain, the U.S. senator from Arizona; Michigan favorite son Romney; and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

McCain has surged back into a strong position. He has benefited from the general dissatisfaction Republican voters feel about his rivals, who they say have failed to sell themselves to a broad, conservative audience.

McCain holds a strong lead over most of the field. He is looking to finish off Romney.

According to exit polls, McCain is seen as the most
electable Republican. He also is favored by those who value experience. He was
considered the strongest leader and most qualified to be commander-in-chief. He
won the moderate vote, the women vote and the independent
vote.

However, McCain is not loved by all.

In 2000, he clashed with George W. Bush in what was seen as one of the nastiest, dirtiest presidential primary contest ever witnessed by anyone.

To this very day, both sides still talk about the 2000 primary and not necessarily in glowing terms.

A lot of blood was left on the floor, not to mention bitter feelings.

Richard Quinn, a senior political consultant to the McCain campaign, rejected the notion that bad blood exist today between the senator and regular party members loyal to President Bush.

"I do not see any evidence of that in polls," he said. "McCain has high favorables in South Carolina. I think he's very popular."

Huckabee, former Southern Baptist pastor, is the wildcard in the race. He has surged to the front of the pack in some national polls. He also leads in some selected surveys.

Huckabee is hoping his surprise first-place showing in the Iowa caucuses will boost his support among regular Republicans.

He is looking forward to Saturday's competition in South Carolina, a state with large numbers of evangelicals Christians, who form a natural base for Huckabee.

McCain held the advantage early on in South Carolina, collecting a long list of endorsements from Republican leaders and building a strong ground organization...

Stealth fighter McCain plots 2008 comeback

by Stephen Collinson

Mon Dec 17, 4:47 PM ET

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.