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IN LIMBO IN WASHINGTON, McCAIN COMES ALIVE IN IOWA
February 19, 2007
It was Sen. John McCain.
Back in
In interviews, the Arizona Republican has spoken almost in monotone, defending his support for sending more troops into battle in
But as he campaigned across
"I had my glass of ethanol this morning, and I'm feeling good," he said to ripples of laughter as he delivered his opening remarks to a jampacked audience in a
When a man said he was serving in the Marines in
As the audience broke into laughter, the man responded, "Marines always love to rescue the Navy when they get the chance."
"That's what you get for being a smart [expletive]," McCain said of being turned into the butt of the joke.
A young man in
The ethanol joke was not lost on anyone, either. When he ran for president eight years ago, McCain skipped the
McCain lost that first race for president after a bitter fight with Bush, who proved more adept at appealing to the Republican base. Now back for a second try for the GOP nomination, support for ethanol -- he says it is economically justifiable now that oil prices have risen -- is just one of a number of things he has been willing to swallow to try to win.
The McCain team is focused on building an infrastructure of financial and political support second to none in the GOP field. The candidate himself, whose formal announcement will come next month, is determined to make himself acceptable to Republicans who spurned him the last time around.
McCain's path to the nomination is made less difficult by the absence of a top-tier candidate with the ability to consolidate the conservative base of the party. Former
McCain advisers believe he can change attitudes among many culturally conservative voters and win the nomination as the favorite of the GOP establishment. On what was McCain's first campaign swing through
Seeking the 2000 nomination, McCain ran as a maverick and a reformer, an appeal that played especially well with independent voters. This time he presents himself as the candidate who can restore core principles to the Republican Party, which he says became intoxicated by power before losing its congressional majorities in the 2006 midterm elections.
His message this time is more overtly conservative, and his campaign identifies more openly with the socially conservative wing of the party. McCain and his advisers stress his quarter-century record of support for antiabortion legislation, and when it came time for an opening prayer on Saturday morning, McCain's
McCain still has issues with conservative Republicans over immigration and a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, and he supports stem cell research. Some conservatives will have to be convinced that the man who trashed Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson eight years ago is truly one of them now, although he has patched up with Falwell.
A longtime scourge of pork-barrel spending and a proponent of fiscal discipline, McCain is well positioned on an issue that has gained more currency among conservative Republicans because of the mushrooming spending during Bush's presidency. "I'll veto every pork-barrel bill that comes across my desk, and I'll make the people famous who put it in," he said in
Across
McCain's hopes for winning the White House may be tied directly to
"The one thing I'm sure of is, next January when the
When a reporter suggested that his fate ultimately may not be in his hands, McCain replied: "Yep. That's why I can't worry about it and I don't worry about it. There's nothing I can do about it."
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