McCain Looks Ahead

It is an immutable law of American politics that the candidate with the most money wins the nomination. But Tuesday that ended when John McCain, nearly broke at one point, became, in effect, the Republican nominee. The life of John McCain is the story of one near-death experience after another, both literally and in terms of his career. How appropriate that he hails from a town called Phoenix.

Tuesday night in Dallas marked a historic comeback for a campaign that had been considered dead, finished. McCain claimed the nomination at the end of an exhausting and emotional day.

60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley met the senator and his wife, Cindy, after his speech.

"About four months ago, the polls showed you coming in fourth in New Hampshire. You were down to your last $50,000. Your opponents were out-spending you massively and tonight you're the party's nominee. What is it about you that got you here?" Pelley asked.

"I think it shows that in America anything is possible. I think hard work, I think telling people the truth. But tonight I'm obviously very happy and very humbled by having had the ability to get this nomination," McCain said.

"As of about an hour ago you became the leader of the Republican Party, a party that you have sometimes been at odds with," Pelley remarked.

"From time to time," McCain agreed.

Asked where he's going to lead the party, the senator told Pelley, "We have to re-energize the party, we have to expand the base, we have to appeal to the independents and we have to go out and get those Reagan Democrats and there's a whole new generation of them. We got our work cut out for us."

The next day he accepted an endorsement that cuts both ways: President Bush is popular with conservatives, but, overall, he has the lowest approval ratings since Nixon and Carter.

"The United States is going to be in Iraq for years to come. Afghanistan is not going well. Osama bin Laden is at large. And the economy is slipping into recession. How do you make a case for a third Republican term?" Pelley asked McCain.

"I can make a case that less government, lower taxes, less regulation, safer America is what I can give America. But I don't underestimate the size of the challenge," McCain replied.

"Senator Obama calls you a genuine American hero who represents the politics of yesterday," Pelley remarked.

"Yeah, that's a pretty good line, I think. And I understand that. And my response, of course, is that I have the experience and the knowledge and the background to make the judgments that are necessary to move this nation forward and make it safe," McCain said.

"You're saying that Senator Obama doesn't have the experience? That he's too naïve to be president?" Pelley asked.

"No, I am saying that I have that. And if the phone rings at 3:00a.m., I think the American people would want me to answer it first," McCain replied.

But no one had expected him to be around to take that call. Moderates didn't like McCain's support for the surge in Iraq; conservatives didn't like his plan for citizenship for illegal immigrants. Contributions dried up. Before New Hampshire, he burned through a $3 million loan he had secured with a life insurance policy.

Asked if that was the darkest moment, McCain told Pelley, "There were so many. It's hard to pick one out."

"I am told that on a trip to New Hampshire one of your aides switched you off one airline and put you on Southwest Airlines because it would save a few bucks. You were down to that, is that true?" Pelley asked.

"I don't remember the incident. It may have happened without them telling me. But it certainly wouldn't surprise me," McCain said.

"You never talked to anybody about giving it up?" Pelley asked.

"No. No," McCain replied.

McCain centered his campaign on what was among the most divisive issues in America: the surge in Iraq.

When 60 Minutes traveled with him to Iraq last April, two thirds of the American people were against the surge.

"I believe that we can succeed and I believe the consequences of failure are catastrophic. Those who say just withdraw, then you say, 'What next?'" McCain asked in the 2007 interview.

"I wonder at what point do you stop doing what you think is right and you start doing what the majority of the American people want?" Pelley asked.

"Well, again, I disagree with what the majority of the American people want. Failure will lead to chaos, withdrawal will lead to chaos," McCain said at the time.

"That was not what the American people wanted to hear at that time," Pelley pointed out.

"That's exactly right. It's not what they wanted to hear. I can read the polls very well," McCain said.

"But you said it anyway," Pelley said.

"Well, I said, at the time I'd much rather lose a campaign than lose a war. Now, more and more Americans are believing that the surge is succeeding. I'm very glad of that," McCain replied.

Surge success helped win New Hampshire. Later, the conservative vote split between Romney and Huckabee. McCain won enough conservatives, moderates and independents to seize the momentum. It was a narrow escape for McCain, but then that's the story of his life.

As a naval aviator during Vietnam he walked away from an accident that killed 134 others. He was shot down on his 23rd combat mission. The enemy offered to let him go because he was the son of an admiral but McCain demanded other Americans be released first, so he remained as a prisoner of war five and a half years. Because of torture, today, he can lift his arm only so high.

Pelley asked him about American interrogation methods today. Asked if water boarding is torture, McCain said, "Sure. Yes. Without a doubt."

"So the United States has been torturing POWs?" Pelley asked.

"Yes. Scott, we prosecuted Japanese war criminals after World War II.
And one of the charges brought against them, for which they were convicted, was that they water-boarded Americans," McCain said.

"How did we lose our way?" Pelley asked.

"I don't know the answer to that. I think one of the failures maybe was not to listen more to our military leadership, including people like General Colin Powell, on this issue," McCain said.

"In your town hall meetings you're fond of saying that you will follow Osama bin Laden to the gates of hell," Pelley remarked. "With respect, following him to the gates of hell is easy. What's hard is putting several divisions of U.S. forces on the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan. What are you willing to do?"

"Well, the first thing is not tell Osama bin Laden what I'm gonna do. But I'll get him," McCain vowed.

Foreign policy is McCain's specialty, but at least for now most voters say they worry about the economy.

"Back in 1992, Bill Clinton had a sign hanging in his campaign war room, a pretty famous sign. Do you recall what it said?" Pelley asked.

"It's the economy, stupid. Yes," McCain replied.

"Everywhere we went in Texas with you it was about the war and foreign policy and I wondered in those town hall meetings if you had an understanding of how concerned people are about the economy, about whether they can keep their homes, about whether they can keep their jobs?" Pelley asked.

"Look, these are tough times. These are very tough times," McCain said.

Asked how he would characterize the mortgage mess, McCain said, "I think it's a disaster, but let me hasten to add, Scott, I think the fundamentals of our economy are still strong."

"What do you do for the person who just saw gasoline go from three and a quarter to three fifty on its way to $4?" Pelley asked.

"I would love to tell you that I have an immediate answer for that. And I don't. The only way we are going to fix it is to eliminate our dependence on foreign oil. We've got to have a crash program, a all out effort," McCain said. "But, I can't give you straight talk and tell you that tomorrow I can change the price of a gallon of gas."

On taxes, McCain voted against the Bush tax cuts originally; now he wants to make them permanent. But he says his own party has let spending go wildly out of control.

"Senator Clinton says that providing universal healthcare is quote 'a moral responsibility.' Do you agree?" Pelley asked.

"Well, I think that's one of the big differences we have about the role of government. If you think that the government should mandate anything to the American people than besides a safety net, and I don't view it as a safety net. I view Medicare and Medicaid as a safety net," McCain said. "But to mandate that all Americans are required to do something then that's just not within the fundamental philosophy that I have about the role of government in America."

Instead of government insurance, McCain proposes a $5,000 tax credit so families can buy insurance of their own.

On immigration, he says that the borders should be secured first but, despite criticism from conservatives, he told 60 Minutes this about illegal immigrants: "If they complied with some very stringent and rigid requirements, they could find themselves on a path to citizenship."

On Capitol Hill he gets credit for reaching out to Democrats on big issues like immigration and campaign finance reform. But his fellow politicians are critical of his high minded condemnation of money in politics.

"You point your finger at other senators and claim that there is a culture of corruption on Capitol Hill. But you take money from lobbyists who have business before your committee as other senators do. So, how is it that you call the system corrupt?" Pelley asked.

"Well, one of the reasons why I call the system corrupt is because we have members of Congress who are in jail, who are former members of Congress. But it's not the individuals, it's the system we have today. I believe that I serve with honorable men and women. And I believe that the people who bring their case to government, the overwhelming majority of them are honorable people," McCain said.

"The lobbyists?" Pelley asked.

"Retirees have a lobbyist. Firemen have a lobbyist. Your business has a lot of lobbyists," McCain said.

McCain claims he's never done a favor for money. He believes he's being held to a higher standard because of his criticism.

At 71 years old, McCain's health has been an issue. After his presidential race in 2000 he was diagnosed with the most lethal form of skin cancer.

McCain told Pelley his health is excellent. "And we'll be doing the medical records thing with the media sometime in the next month or two."

"There has been some criticism that you have not released your medical records. You're saying in this interview that you're about to do that?" Pelley inquired.

"Oh, yeah, we'll do it in the next month or so, yeah," McCain said.

"Is it fair to say that, at this point in time, there's no sign of a recurrence in cancer?" Pelley asked.

"Oh no. No. There's none," McCain said.

But there is an occasional recurrence of McCain's temper. 60 Minutes saw it again on the day of our interview, when he became annoyed with a reporter's questions.

"Some people say you have a short fuse," Pelley remarked. "You acknowledge that?"

"I get angry when I see things go wrong. I've never been elected Ms. Congeniality. But I do believe that I can unite this party. And I think the American people support somebody who still has the capacity, maybe, to get angry from time to time when we see something wrong," McCain said.

Now, eight months before Election Day, McCain is running a close race. He's behind in fundraising, but he has a head start on November as the Democrats battle on.

Asked what he says to those who say he can't beat a Democrat in November, McCain said, "I say 'I know that I can.' But I also believe that America is a right-of-center nation. And I think that Senator Obama and Senator Clinton, with all due respect, are liberal Democrats. And I'm a conservative Republican. So I believe I can make a better case to the American people."
Produced By Tom Anderson