McCain Takes A Standing Eight Count
By CBSNews.com's Christine Lagorio.
Republican Sen. John McCain was once a frontrunner in the race for the GOP presidential nomination. But his unwavering support for the Iraq war and the surging candidacy of rival Rudy Giuliani have dealt a blow to his White House hopes.
The bad news has been delivered in a series of public opinion polls. A CBS News poll taken in mid-February showed Giulani with a whopping 50-21 percent lead over McCain among likely GOP primary voters.
Both moderate and conservative GOP primary voters said they would prefer Giuliani. Forty-eight percent of conservative voters said they would vote for Giuliani to only 21 percent of conservatives who said they favored McCain.
More recent surveys conducted for the Washington Post and Time magazine contained the same kind of gloomy numbers for the Arizona senator.
"We keep doing the best we can. We're very happy with the way things are going," McCain told reporters in response to a question about him trailing Giuliani in polls.
Happy or not, McCain has moved on two fronts to reverse the slide.
Despite his slide in the polls, the situation is far from bleak. Many analysts, for example, aren't certain Giuliani's surge in popularity will stand the test of time. They also point out that this is only the beginning of a long and difficult campaign.
"This is a 10-, 11-month slog," said Stu Rothenberg, publisher of The Rothenberg Political Report and a CBS News political consultant.
"McCain needs to go out to Iowa and New Hampshire and talk to folks," Rothenberg added. "He did this before well in new Hampshire, but in Iowa he didn't really compete. He has to focus Republicans' attention on some issues, and particularly on social issues. It is not like they are in crisis mode here. This is only the start."
Said GOP consultant Neil Newhouse: "Generally, this stage of the campaign is a personality contest. And later in the game, it turns into issues. Right now Giuliani is winning the beauty contest."
Even if Giuliani does fade, McCain will still need to deal with the thorny question of Iraq.
"McCain's unwavering support for the Iraq war is really dragging him down even among Republicans," said Taegan Goddard, editor of Political Wire. "Much of his political future rides on the success of the war."