John McCain Looks Ahead

Politico: McCain Hopes To Build On A New Hampshire Bounce

(The Politico)  On his campaign bus Monday, a confident John McCain looked ahead to how he could cement his front-runner status after a win in the Granite State.

McCain would need to capitalize quickly on a New Hampshire primary win with immediate success in the two states leading up to the jackpot of Florida on Jan. 29.

And he will hit both of those states on Wednesday, jetting out of New Hampshire on a charter jet with a flock of national reporters - two things that he conspicuously lacked until recently. He’ll hold daytime events in Michigan before ending up at rally at The Citadel in Charleston at night - the same military setting where he finished his September “No Surrender” tour that aides now credit for helping him get back on course.

There are reasons to doubt whether McCain can turn a New Hampshire victory into a bounce elsewhere, including persistent skepticism from the Republican base. The big question: Will Republicans nominate somebody whose immigration views run counter to the vast majority of the party? And of course, a win in New Hampshire is by no means certain. Nevertheless, McCain has a plan ready to implement.

In Michigan, a state where McCain has already delivered two speeches on the economy, he plans to discuss ways to fix the auto capital’s ailing fortunes.

“We’re going to have a lot of emphasis on the economic issues,” McCain said, chatting with a small group of reporters on his campaign bus about what lies ahead for the shortened primary campaign in Michigan. “We’re going to have to talk about jobs, we’re going to have to talk about care for displaced workers, we’re going to have talk about competition.”

Michigan’s primary is one week from Tuesday.

In South Carolina, where Republicans vote Jan. 19, McCain said the theme would likely shift to national security matters.

“There’s going to be a lot more concern there about veterans, about the war, about the National Guard,” McCain predicted, noting the state’s high number of retired and active-duty personnel.

And just as in 2000 - when McCain campaigned in both states and won Michigan - the senator is helped by the fact that any registered voter is allowed to participate in the primary, increasing the likelihood that he can pick up crucial support from unaffiliated voters.

Aides say that, despite the local areas of emphasis, McCain’s message will broadly remain the same - that he is singularly qualified to lead the country in a time of peril and that his anti-establishment tendencies are what is needed to restore American faith in government.

“We’re going to dance a lot with what brung us,” said one adviser. McCain is already on television in both states, including in the pricey Detroit market.

McCain’s camp expects a fierce battle with Mitt Romney in Michigan, who, if he loses New Hampshire, could be making a last stand in the state where he grew up. Romney has a solid organization there and many establishment endorsements from the party his father led as governor in the 60s.

But McCain aides note that they’ve picked up support from Motown’s two widely circulated newspapers, the Detroit News and Detroit Free Press, and say more endorsements as well as a major surrogate push there is on the way.

Meanwhile, they’re already thinking beyond the Romney challenge, and are fixed on Mike Huckabee as their top threat in South Carolina and Rudy Giuliani in Florida.

Because of McCain’s summer implosion, the campaign had to almost entirely reduce its organizational presence in the Sunshine State. But campaign manager Rick Davis is increasingly focused on Florida. He told a conference call with donors on Friday that if McCain beats Hizzoner in Florida, Feb. 5 would amount to “a victory lap."

Such a path to victory may, however, include doing battle with two candidates that McCain genuinely likes and has gotten along with for most of the year.

Asked if he was comfortable engaging Huckabee and Giuliani, McCain said he already had but had done so “in a respectful fashion.”

“One of the reasons I may win tomorrow is because these negative attacks don’t work,” McCain said.

Asked if he would pledge not to attack the two rivals, McCain said he wouldn’t “attack them.” But, adding an escape hatch, he noted that there is “a fine line” on such matters and that whether an ad or message is negative is “in the eye of the beholder.”

Still, McCain flatly declared: “I will campaign in a way that objective observers will say, 'That’s not negative campaigning.'”

And he did seem to recognize that there is danger in indulging his sharp tongue.

While not offering any apologies for his tough shots at Romney in Saturday night’s debate, he said he was glad to have not had such exchanges again at Sunday’s forum.

“It was good thing to say,” McCain said of the barbs he hurled at Romney, “but I also think it was good thing to move on from that and have the kind of discussion at least that I had last night.”

Although his summer shake-up is now well behind him, McCain’s staff still has the scrappy, underdog feel that his lack of resources has made a necessity. For example, he has just three full-time press aides and has not been able to afford polling for months.

But McCain, who noted that Davis had informed him that they were “in the black,” said he would likely not make any additions or changes to his senior staff, some of whom are working without pay.

With the infusion of cash he would be sure to get with a victory here Tuesday, McCain said he would invest more in TV commercials and that his campaign was already “working on the funding” to get on the air in Florida.

For all his confidence, if McCain does fall short in New Hampshire - where he has publicly said for months that he will win - his prospects will be gravely damaged and his path to the nomination becomes much less clear.

Asked if he expected to hear from some new friends should he win and emerge as the man to beat in the GOP race, McCain quipped: “I hope so - always love to hear from old friends.”

Added Davis: “The welcome mat is always out.”

[moxford0]

Quick Draw McGraw, oops I mean Quick Draw McCain, wins. I wonder if Quick Draw''s supporters would mind paying for the Iraq war out of their own pockets or having their kid''s head blown off for Bushs or now possibly Quick Draw McCain''s war?

[idlepugilist]

Funny comments about McCain. "Cranky, bitter old man." "Nothing in common with mainstream US." Except he can tell it like he sees it, knows not to shoot from the hip like George, and can work across the aisle. This is not bitter or out of mainstream. Unless you believe extreme partisanship is mainstream; then I know you listen to Drug Limbaugh.

[denn034]

Yeah, to a thrashing! Let''s just be honest here. Conservatives don''t like liberal lovers. Period!

[infidel_us]

The fact that he is doing so well (at least in Iowa and NH) only proves that those two states have NOTHING in common with mainstream America.

McCain is a cranky, bitter old man. What a waste it would be to nominate this guy only to watch him flame out in the general election. If we want another Nixon in the whitehouse, McCain is the man.