Pure Horserace: No Surrender For McCain

CBS News reporter Dante Higgins has been traveling with Republican candidate John McCain and files this report from the road:

Sen. John McCain hit the campaign trail yesterday to kickoff of his "No Surrender" tour after spending the day on Capitol Hill listening to Gen. David Petraeus testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee. McCain, a vocal supporter of this year's troop surge in Iraq, used his time at the hearing to claim he's been on the right side of the war debate all along.

McCain's jet touched down in Sioux City, Iowa, Tuesday night to begin what some are dubbing a relaunch of a campaign struggling with fundraising difficulties and staff departures. His audience of about 300 people, mostly seniors and veterans, snacked on ham sandwiches while waiting, getting books signed by war hero Col. Bud Day -- the namesake of the airfield where McCain was set to land.

The event began when McCain's jet rolled into view of the hangar draped in American flags and his No Surrender bus met him to drive him to the stage.

McCain was introduced by Day, a decorated Air Force pilot who was a prisoner of war with McCain in Vietnam. Day argued that McCain's POW experience helped provide him with the experience and character required to be president, and that he was cut from the same cloth as Republican icons Ronald Reagan and Teddy Roosevelt.

Day, along with former National Security Adviser Bud McFarlane and other veterans on stage, pledged their support for McCain's candidacy. In all, the event looked to set McCain up as the candidate most serious about the Iraq war, and the one most likely to win it. In fact, McCain drew his loudest applause from the crowd when pledging to win in Iraq and not let American soldiers die in vain. Taking questions from reporters after the event, McCain said he agreed with Petraeus' call for troop reductions, saying they were based on military intelligence and not dates picked by politicians.

In another sign of the war's importance to McCain's bid, other issues were left by the wayside, including health care and immigration -- the senator's support for a comprehensive immigration bill this year is one of the reasons his support among Republican primary voters has dropped.

But McCain is clearly trying to win back some support, and even had strong words for his latest rival for the nomination, former Sen. Fred Thompson. McCain said Thompson's statement that bin Laden "was more symbolism than anything else" showed the TV and film actor didn't understand the al Qaeda leader's power to influence and motivate radical Islamists. -- Dante Higgins, Sioux City, Iowa Editor's Note: This report earlier stated incorrectly that the McCain event started an hour late.

Mr. Fix-It Goes To Florida: Mitt Romney clearly thinks Florida will be a key part of his bid for the Republican nomination, even if the fate of the state's GOP primary, scheduled for Jan. 29, is in limbo at the moment. Romney has held several campaign events in the state, and now he's the first candidate to air a TV ad there.

The spot, titled "Energy," opens up with Romney's wife, Ann, saying "Every place that Mitt has gone, he has solved problems that people said were nearly impossible." Then the ad mentions Romney's experience in fixing up companies, the 2004 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics and the budget of Massachusetts - identified as "our most Democratic state."

Ads in New Hampshire and Iowa appear to have played a significant part in Romney's ascent to the tops of polls in both states. And now, it looks like he's hoping for a similar result in Florida where, thanks to the state's large size, advertising is of greater importance.

But the ad could be a gamble. The Republican National Committee has threatened to strip Florida of half its convention delegates for holding a January primary, and even if the contest takes place as scheduled, earlier contests in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina may have already effectively decided who gets the GOP nod.

Of course, should Romney maintain his leads in those early states, Florida may become his last stepping stone to the nomination. Evidently, he wants to be prepared for that possibility. -- David Miller

Front-Runner Blues: One of Rudy Giuliani's favorite arguments to Republican primary voters has been his strong poll position, both nationally and in large states like New York and California. While he may not be leading in Iowa and New Hampshire, Giuliani has been able to point to broad support nationally and argue that he is best positioned to compete against Democrats in the general election. But if the latest polls are any indication, that rationale is getting harder to sell.

First came the CBS News/New York Times survey showing a sharp drop in Giuliani's support among Republicans nationally. In August, 38 percent of Republican primary voters supported him for the nomination, this month that number fell to 27 percent.

The poll showed Fred Thompson eating into Giuliani's lead and could be a reflection of the former senator's entrance into the race. But, should he be seriously challenged for that national front-runner status over the coming weeks, the early state contests will become more important for Giuliani's campaign. And those continue to lag, according to a new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg series of polls.

Those polls show Giuliani tied with Thompson in second place in New Hampshire (behind Mitt Romney), trailing Romney in New Hampshire by five points and in a close second place to Thompson in South Carolina. The good news for Giuliani is that he's in second in those states. The bad news is that his strategy thus far has been much broader than that and he's spent less time courting these early state voters than some of the other candidates. Up until now, he's countered that by pointing to his national strength, something which at the moment appears to be ebbing a bit. We might be seeing more of the former mayor in Iowa and New Hampshire and less of him in Florida before too long. -- Vaughn Ververs

At Odds With The Truth: There is no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved in the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. But six years after that day, one-third of Americans still believe there's a connection between the two. In this week's installment of Poll Positions, CBS News director of surveys Kathy Frankovic examines why this belief has persisted for so long. As you might expect, one's political views can affect what a person believes. But it also turns out that human nature plays a role, too. To learn more, check out this week's column.

Editor's note: Pure Horserace is a daily update of political news as interpreted by the political observers at CBSNews.com. Click here to sign up for the e-mail version.
By Dante Higgins, David Miller and Vaughn Ververs