While the Democratic contenders are locked in battle, John McCain is roaming the countryside.
First was the Bio Tour—a sort of “this is your life” venture revisiting his personal highlights. Then came the “It’s Time for Action” tour, which wended through places his campaign describes as “communities that have been forgotten and left behind.”
This Read More
John McCain clearly sees his foreign policy experience and his personal biography as his strong suits in a potential match-up against Barack Obama. But he should get a debriefing from Hillary Clinton before he makes these the centerpiece of his campaign.
She, after all, has been spectacularly unsuccessful in convincing voters that “experience” trumps “change.” Read More
John McCain may be a victim of his own success. His early, unwavering support of the military surge in Iraq ended up helping him win the nomination. And as the situation has become more stable over there, it has removed the war from the front pages here, diminishing what was suppose to be McCain’s big Read More
After beating the odds and capturing the Republican nomination, John McCain faces many challenges—raising money, staying in the headlines, calming the conservative base. But none is more daunting than the first major test of his executive skills: selecting a running mate.
In choosing a vice-presidential candidate, he’ll have to say “no thanks” to many well-meaning Read More
John McCain has a new problem with some of his far-right critics. Having made his life miserable in the primary, they seem now intent on wrecking his general election effort before it even starts.
At a campaign event last week, radio talk-show host Bill Cunningham used Barack Obama’s middle name, Hussein, multiple times in his Read More
It didn’t hurt John McCain during the Republican primary when he told Iowa voters to forget ethanol subsidies, or when he broke the news to Michigan voters that their auto industry jobs were not coming back. Just as it only boosted his reputation as the straightest talker in the Republican field when he turned down Read More
Following John McCain’s victory in Florida last week the chorus of McCain-hatred grew louder on talk radio shows and on many conservative blogs.
Rush Limbaugh declared that McCain was not conservative and unacceptable as a candidate. Formerly respectable conservative figures took delight in criticizing McCain’s war record—yes, his war record—by tallying up the number of Read More
Certain conservative opinion makers are not pleased.
Rush Limbaugh, Hugh Hewitt, much of the roster at the National Review and many (but certainly not all) of their more conservative talk radio and blogger colleagues are beside themselves at the prospect that one of the Republican contenders they deemed to be “not conservative” might be Read More
Senator John McCain entered the presidential race facing a skeptical conservative base.
The list of grievances was long: He voted against the Bush tax cuts; he championed campaign finance reform and the ban on issue ads that are the lifeblood of conservative organizations; he advocated a sweeping, controversial plan for immigration reform; and he Read More
A year ago the smart money was on John McCain to be the Republican nominee. He had the biggest and best campaign operation, plenty of George Bush’s supporters and moneymen and healthy poll numbers.
The combination of conservative fury over immigration reform and a financial train wreck in his campaign operation subsequently sent his Read More
