Looking Presidential
HAYES, STEPHEN F.
Looking Presidential With the nomination wrapped up, McCain plots his campaign. BY STEPHEN F. HAYES Houston On a sunny Texas day last week, two men discussed politics under the shade of a...
...and Jacksonville, Florida, where he lived upon returning from his time as a POW in Vietnam...
...He will continue to provide reporters with virtually limitless opportunities to ask him questions in sessions on his campaign bus and in almost daily media availabilities...
...But McCain wasn’t happy...
...He is bathed in bright light courtesy of local television crews, and he squints as he speaks...
...As he sails toward a general election against an unknown opponent, many expect his campaign operation to undergo some dramatic changes—from the torn sails and marauding spirit of a pirate ship to the hulking engines and sleek lines of a cruise ship...
...But those little things will matter more soon...
...At least not overtly...
...But McCain has a very sensitive ear to perceived insults, and he is quick—sometimes too quick—to profess his dedication to civility...
...But McCain felt the need to create some distance...
...And as a senator from Arizona, he has done a lot for Native Americans, Latinos, Hispanics...
...There are other risks to talking this much in public and to the press...
...When he returns, McCain will Stephen F. Hayes is a senior writer at THE WEEKLY STANDARD...
...McCain will be a lot better fi rst lady than Bill Clinton would...
...I would like to point out that I will conduct a respectful campaign...
...He says he needs the intellectual stimulation in order to keep the long days of the campaign from getting boring or repetitive...
...His stance on immigration was by far the most positive in the GOP primaries...
...Either way, it will be unconventional and, at the beginning, nonideological...
...The audience shouted its delight...
...Among them: McCain Field in Mississippi...
...So while McCain’s effort will begin to take on the qualities of a real general election campaign, he intends to preserve much of the insurgent character that helped him get this far...
...BY STEPHEN F. HAYES Houston On a sunny Texas day last week, two men discussed politics under the shade of a 14x22 foot concrete armadillo as they watched the chaos of John McCain’s arrival at Goode’s Armadillo Palace...
...It’s a natural request but a self-defeating one, too, as the chief purpose of such events is to help McCain carry his message beyond the 200 people packed into the restaurant to see him live...
...They’ll get the bigpicture stuff that this election will be decided on...
...It was a harmless remark and people loved it...
...I take the humor,” McCain said, turning serious...
...I’d like to kick their ass...
...He asks for the lights to be dimmed so that he can see the people in front of him...
...We will respect all of our opponents and their spouses in this campaign...
...Inner cities, poor rural communities, places left behind...
...At the risk of really killing the metaphor, he will be less dependent on the wind—on factors he cannot control— than he was in the primaries...
...Some crackpot could ask McCain about something obscure in an effort to trip him up—say, a question about his plans for the president’s working group on fi nancial markets...
...While those two are throwing deck chairs at each other, he’ll look like the president,” says a senior adviser to McCain...
...Pensacola, Florida, where he trained at the naval air station...
...This trip—the “Service to America” tour—is intended to fi ll out that narrative...
...His advisers say that while McCain is going chiefl y to assess progress in these areas, he will also reinforce an important campaign message as the Obama-Clinton fi ght continues...
...Oh wait, that was Ron Paul during a presidential debate...
...the U.S...
...Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, where McCain graduated fi fth from the bottom of his class...
...Still, all signs point to a strong year for Democrats, and McCain will be outspent by the Democratic nominee, whether Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, next fall...
...At each stop, the campaign will emphasize one aspect of McCain’s character and talk about why it will be important in the White House...
...Same idea...
...The practical reason for this is obvious: He needs the “free media” coverage to offset what will be a huge disadvantage in paid media such as TV and radio ads...
...First, I want to make a comment that I feel Mrs...
...He said he was not troubled by the prospect of a lowlevel, long-term U.S...
...More laughs...
...They’re half right...
...And most of his public events will be town halls, not speeches, something that will provide a stark contrast to the tightly controlled campaign of either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton...
...McCain takes the stage to enthusiastic applause and begins his remarks...
...Last week it didn’t matter much...
...Voters are not going to focus on a bunch of little stuff,” says Steve Schmidt, a top McCain adviser...
...At the Armadillo Palace in Houston, for instance, one voter had a rather unique reason for supporting McCain...
...Unlike other candidates in the race, if Cindy answers the phone at 3 a.m., she won’t have to wonder where her husband is...
...The town halls, in particular, present risks...
...His advisers believe that while most Americans have a vague sense that McCain served his country in the military and in political life, they don’t actually know his story...
...deliver what one adviser calls a “signifi - cant national security address,” talking specifi cally about the future of the war in Iraq, the importance of a stable Iraq to U.S...
...It’s only noon, but it is dark inside, and the rowdy crowd gives the place a distinct Saturday night feel...
...Not surprisingly, Jack Kemp likes the idea...
...I wonder if the New York Times is here...
...When he came to the House in 1982, he was a strong supporter of enterprise zones...
...Soon, it’s too much...
...Fair enough...
...And last week, he leapt awkwardly into the long-simmering controversy about whether children’s vaccinations can lead to autism...
...McCain had turned in a stiff performance, and the voter was doing him a favor by loosening up the audience...
...He will speak to concerns about the economy and unveil an “empowerment” agenda designed to serve as a contrast to “the discredited policies of the 1960s and 1970s...
...After that, McCain will begin a cross-country tour emphasizing his life story...
...Still, because the campaign does not control which audience members get time with the microphone, McCain is sometimes left to clean up a potential mess on his own...
...Last year, McCain drew attention to himself when he joked about war with Iran by singing “Bomb Iran” to the tune of the Beach Boys’ “Barbara Ann...
...In the months ahead, as he gives defi - nition to his general election campaign, McCain will spend a good chunk of his time visiting places “where Republicans are not often seen,” says an adviser...
...It increases the likelihood that the candidate will make a mistake or say something that can be taken out of context by his opponents...
...Later this month, he will spend more than a week overseas, with stops in Europe and the Middle East...
...The crowd fell silent and in two seconds he had sucked the enthusiasm out of the room...
...After a quick “thank you” tour of New Hampshire, McCain plans to kick off the new phase of the campaign by not campaigning at all...
...He can reach out to Reagan Democrats, independents, and people of color...
...The audience laughed, then applauded, and the questioner joked that McCain could pay him the agreed upon $10 after he was done...
...I would expect John to do a tour like that,” says Kemp, who is advising McCain...
...The money and national political network that come with being a nominee will allow McCain to build the kind of operation his team had begun to put together last spring, when overspending left the campaign nearly broke...
...This plan was hatched before Hillary Clinton’s successful night last Tuesday, when a McCain-Obama contest looked almost certain...
...presence of Iraq for 100 years, a remark that has been taken out of context and used against him by the Democrats...
...He’s comfortable with people who are not WASPy Republicans, not country club Republicans, and that’s what makes some of our friends on the right very nervous...
...It will feature stops in cities and towns that have somehow shaped his life...
...But McCain also enjoys these interactions with reporters and journalists...
...McCain’s general election campaign will be unconventional in two other aspects, as well...
...Even if Clinton is the nominee, McCain’s outreach to these voters could help him appeal to her main constituency, women...
...Basking in the love he’d gotten from the audience, the guy introduced his real question with another joke...
...In that sense, his campaign will get an upgrade...
...I don’t associate myself—even though it was meant in humor—I want to assure you what we will have in this event is a respectful campaign and I will respect Senator Obama and Senator Clinton...
...McCain’s team isn’t worried...
...Less than 12 hours later, McCain won primary victories in Rhode Island, Vermont, Ohio, and Texas, and thereby enough delegates to secure the Republican nomination...
...Obama has struggled to win votes from what pollsters describe as “down-market” voters, and McCain advisers are confi dent their candidate can pick some of them up...
...Inside, would-be cowboys at the bar sit on saddles fi xed atop sturdy wooden posts...
...Leaving aside the question of how, exactly, this man would kick the ass of a newspaper, it’s fair to say that this sentiment was representative...
...A mounted longhorn head fell off the wall and killed a piano player in the early 1930s, according to local legend...
...In Waco, one night before he secured the nomination, McCain took a question from a man who mistakenly addressed him as “President McCain...
...policy in the region, and more broadly, how a McCain administration would win the struggle against radical Islamic extremism...
Vol. 13 • March 2008 • No. 26
