Independents Help McCain in Michigan By LIZ SIDOTI

HOWELL, Mich. (AP) - John McCain has an automatic advantage Tuesday when Michigan votes.

Not only did the Republican win the state eight years ago, but he also draws his support from across the political spectrum and Michigan voters of all stripes can participate in the GOP primary.
At the same time, the Democratic race in Michigan is of little or no consequence, so he won't be competing full-bore with Democratic candidates for the backing of independents as he did in New Hampshire last week.

"I don't know how the voters are going to break," McCain said Sunday, but added he hopes to do as well among independents as he did in Michigan in 2000 when he beat George W. Bush here. "Whether they're Democrat, Republican, independent, libertarian, vegetarian, whatever they are, it's the same message."

Back then, exit polling showed McCain won 67 percent of independents compared with 26 percent for Bush.

Seeking to reach out again to independents and Democratic crossover voters, McCain will campaign Monday in Michigan with Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut senator and independent who was the Democrats' vice presidential nominee in 2000.

Two days before the primary, polls show McCain locked in a tight race with rival Mitt Romney, a native son of Michigan whose father was a governor some four decades ago.

The Arizona senator is riding high after winning New Hampshire, with the help of independents, and is hoping a Michigan victory will follow. Romney is looking for his first big win after losing Iowa and New Hampshire. He came in first in Wyoming, a scarcely contested contest.
In New Hampshire last week, McCain led Romney among independents, 40 percent to 27 percent.

There are indications that McCain may again benefit
from non-Republican votes.
He pulled in more than 1,000 people at Clawson
High School on Saturday - one sign read "Independents for McCain" - and another
1,000 on Sunday at the Crystal Garden Hall in Howell.

One woman stood up and asked him why he has the reputation for being the "most liberal of all the conservatives."

"I'm entertained by it. I will match my record with anyone. I am pro-life, pro-defense, anti-regulation, anti-taxes, by any conservative measure you have," McCain said. He then acknowledged instances when he's broken with the Republican Party. "There have been times where I put the country ahead of my party, and I will continue to do that as president of the United States."

The line drew hearty applause.

In Warren on Saturday, one couple - neither Republicans - stood on the edge of some 400 people at a banquet hall.

"He's a centrist in my view," said Ted Fryxell, 37, a Democratic-leaning independent who plans to vote for McCain. "He's a Republican choice we can live with."

His wife, Jennifer Fryxell, 32, a registered Democrat, was weighing her options.

"I'm willing to listen to him," she said. She explained that she wants to participate in the Democratic primary to choose between John Edwards and Barack Obama but is considering voting in the GOP primary because neither are on the ballot; Hillary Rodham Clinton is only major Democratic candidate who is. "I don't want another Clinton," Fryxell said.

McCain Says Michigan's Best Days Are Ahead from the Livingston Daily(MI)

January 14, 2008

As he closed his town-hall session, Sen. John McCain said he believed Americans need to be inspired again. The crowd agreed and sent him out of his town hall meeting with a hearty round of applause.

Just over an hour ago, McCain received a warm welcome from the stand-room-only crowd of well over a thousand people inside Crystal Gardens in Genoa Township.

"I'm grateful to be here," McCain said. "This is a great manifestation of what democracy is all about."

He then told the crowd that

"Michigan's best days are ahead,"

acknowledging the state's current economic straits.

"I believe Michigan can be a leader in green
technology."

"I'm going to see that no state is left behind," McCain said to thunderous applause from the crowd.

He promised to veto every single pork barrel bill that would come across his desk if elected. "I will fix the problem," he said.

McCain also acknowledged the veterans in the audience, asking them to stand. The veterans were greeted by a hearty round of applause.

"We are not giving our veterans the (health)
care they deserve," he said. "We need to fix (the veterans health care system)
not only because of our debt to them, but also for the future." He proposed a
system that would issue a health care card to all veterans that they could use
at whatever doctor or facility they wished.

On a national service program, McCain said Americans young and old want to serve this country. "After 9-11, we should have asked people to serve, rather than take a trip or go shopping," he said. "I'm going to give people the opportunity to serve. ... I believe that they are eager."

On campaign finance reform: "If money is speech, then people with the most money have the biggest microphone," McCain said. "I don't believe in that."

On border security: "We'll secure our borders first, and have governors certify that their borders are secure. I know how to do that, I come from a state with broken borders. I will get the borders secure first and then get a (worker program). We'll handle this as humanely as possible."

First thing to work on after he's elected? Security, McCain said. "We have to do a better job. The battleground is going to be in cyberspace. Then we need to restore confidence."

McCain said in the wake of all that's happened, he will then have to restore trust and confidence. "We need to tell people the truth, not what they want to hear," he said.

Health care? "It needs to be available and affordable," McCain said.

Line item veto: "We have to have line-item veto," McCain said. "We got it once, but we wrote it wrong, so it was declared unconstitutional. We've got to have it back. It's a vital tool."

How will he use his Boy Scout experience? "If there's one true always valid indicator of someone who'll achieve success in life, it's (being an) Eagle Scout." McCain said he would encourage Scouting for everyone.

Great Lakes water diversion: "There's a Great Lakes compact. The states will decide what to do with their water."

Removing FEMA from Homeland Security? McCain said he would vote to remove it, but that would be like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Improving response to disasters?

"Why not involve private businesses, large and small," he asked.

"I'm not going to call up a soldier in Iraq and tell him I'm deporting his mother."

A large crew of national media members were set up for the event. In the audience, people who've never been to a political rally mixed with national politicians and pundits, including Chuck Yob and Joe Klein, author of "Primary Colors."

Klein said that this -- his eighth presidential race -- is the most exciting he's covered. "People are concerned," he said.

Click here to read the Livingston Daily.

McCain - On To Michigan!

January 9, 2008 12:29

Flickr: McCain in Michigan

Posted by Ana Marie Cox

These girls were at the outskirts of a McCain rally today in Grand Rapids, MI. McCain flew to the state, whose caucus is Jan. 15, today to capitalize on the momentum of his New Hampshire win. Signs of how his fortunes have reversed are everywhere: Staff size has suddenly tripled. We're on a really nice charter plane. And it's suddenly much harder to talk to McCain. ("Things have changed," one staffer told me. I took it globally.)

The rally was packed and rowdy. McCain
could barely get through a sentence without being interrupted with applause or
chants of the campaign's new slogan: "The Mac is back."

McCain being McCain, he did take time out of his usual stump speech to tell the crowd that "I am aware that Michigan has lost jobs... and I have to tell you, they're not coming back."

McCain's solution for those lost jobs relies on partnerships with community colleges to retrain workers for jobs in the new economy. It's not a new idea -- and I don't know if it's even the right idea -- but it's also not usually what people who have lost their jobs want to hear. Sometimes one suspects he goes out of his way to find what you might call "uncommon ground."

Oh, yeah, one thing that hasn't changed: The expression on the faces of his fans.
More pix here.

I also want to remind those with the shortest of attention spans -- I'm surprised you got this far! -- that I'm still Twittering.

(My colleague -- in McCain coverage -- Marc Santora has a nice write up of what the scene last night was like.)

Chicago Sun-Times: McCain Shreds Romney's Plan, Is Likely Nominee - By Robert Novak

MANCHESTER, N.H. -- During four final days of campaigning after the Iowa caucuses, New Hampshire's Republican primary was one-on-one between Arizona Sen. John McCain and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Because the winner would become the party's most likely nominee,

McCain's decisive victory puts him in a commanding position after
being counted out for much of the last year.

McCain won a majority of registered Republican voters here as well as New Hampshire independents who voted in the GOP primary (as he did in 2000 when he swamped George W. Bush). Romney's attacks on McCain's liberal immigration policies were popular with Republican voters, but did not resonate with McCain's independent base.

Diminished by losing in Iowa, Romney entered the final weekend in New Hampshire some five percentage points behind. His strategists hoped the immigration issue would erase that lead. In fact, accusing McCain of advocating amnesty for illegal aliens had no more impact in New Hampshire than it had in Iowa.

Romney's loss here was devastating. He planned to boost his modest national ratings with wins in Iowa and New Hampshire, where he led in spending, organization and polls.

At the beginning of December, Romney enjoyed twice as much New Hampshire support as McCain. The senator's local supporters attribute his comeback to the endorsement here of independent Democratic Sen. Joseph Lieberman. But what propelled McCain's victory was Romney's loss in Iowa to former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. The onetime Baptist preacher relied on Iowa evangelicals, an asset lacking in New Hampshire.

The next two weeks are filled with promise for McCain and peril for Romney. Michigan, where Romney grew up (the son of Gov. George Romney), is the next primary, on Jan. 15. But McCain is popular in Michigan, where he defeated Bush in 2000. Another loss for Romney probably ends his candidacy.

South Carolina comes after that on Jan. 19, with Huckabee running in his first Southern primary. But there are substantially fewer evangelicals in South Carolina than Iowa. McCain's South Carolina campaign is led by Sen. Lindsey Graham, who has recruited much of the 2000 organization.

If McCain wins South Carolina, it will be up to former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and his late-starting, big-state strategy. Giuliani leads in Florida's Jan. 29 primary and the California, New York and New Jersey tests Feb. 5. But those leads may not survive McCain's surge.