If Wilford is for McCain, who are we to judge? *SMIRK*
Posted on 01/07/2008 6:02:56 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
Salem, New Hampshire - At a town meeting much like hundreds that he has held here over two presidential campaigns, John McCain was questioned, scolded, praised, cheered and heckled Sunday.
Protesters interrupted him, and one voter who said he supported McCain in 2000 told the senator that he wasn't as keen on him this time around.
"You're in purgatory right now" with me, the man told McCain.
"Well, thank you very much," McCain said. "It's a step up from where I was last summer."
After the near disintegration of his campaign last year, McCain, an Arizona senator, has forced himself back into a muddled Republican equation, overtaking rival Mitt Romney in most polls going into Tuesday's New Hampshire primary.
The two have traded attack ads, and they clashed in GOP debates Saturday and Sunday. While McCain faces his own challenges in New Hampshire, Romney had a very up-and-down weekend. Interviewed by ABC's George Stephanopoulos on Sunday, Romney conceded that he was wrong in Saturday's debate when he denied airing ads accusing McCain of supporting amnesty for illegal immigrants. One of Romney's TV spots makes that very charge. "I had not seen that one," Romney said of his own ad.
He also made a surprising admission after Stephanopoulos suggested that the label of "flip-flopper" was hurting him.
"Yeah, I think the McCain campaign from the very beginning did a masterful political job of trying to tag me with that, and it keeps on being promoted and promulgated, and that's just the way it is. I have to live with that," said Romney, who has changed his position on abortion in recent years.
But after spending Saturday's debate on the defensive, he seemed to bounce back in Sunday's Fox News debate. Different playing field
The GOP race here is dramatically different from the Iowa caucuses won by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee on Thursday. Evangelical Christians are far less a factor in this state, depriving Huckabee, a Baptist minister, of his political base.
Huckabee is not well known here; in an interview, one voter referred to him as Rev. Huckabee.
Unlike in Iowa, McCain and Romney both have histories here: McCain in winning the 2000 primary against George W. Bush, Romney as the former governor of neighboring Massachusetts.
A major difference between the two states is that New Hampshire is a primary, not a caucus, drawing a far higher share of eligible voters, including large numbers of unaffiliated independents. Although those voters fueled McCain's 2000 win over Bush, this time most independents are expected to vote in the Democratic primary - drawn in good part by Barack Obama.
That makes McCain's task tougher. But no one is without their burdens and baggage in this field, and the fact that no single candidate has across-the-board strength gives hope to all.
"Most people didn't expect me to even be in the race. Nobody expected me to win Iowa," Huckabee told Stephanopoulos on ABC's "This Week" on Sunday.
"You're in fourth place, right now, in the polls," Stephanopoulos told him, referring to New Hampshire.
"Oh, so if I'm in third, that'll be better than expected," said Huckabee, who like McCain sparred sharply with Romney during the weekend.
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who once expected to contend here, now is battling Texas Rep. Ron Paul for fourth in some New Hampshire polls. Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson lags badly. Paul was deemed not competitive enough to be included by Fox News in Sunday's GOP debate, a controversial decision that led the state Republican party to withdraw sponsorship. Paul did participate in Saturday's ABC debate.
Echoes of 2000
Whether the back-to-back debates have helped sort things out on the GOP side is unclear. Romney, the biggest spender in the race, appears to irritate his rivals and attracted insults from all sides in Saturday's forum. When Romney told Huckabee, "Don't try and characterize my position," Huckabee shot back, "Which one?"
When Romney touted himself as a candidate of change, McCain said derisively: "We disagree on a lot of issues, but I agree you are the candidate of change." When Romney defended the mandates in his Massachusetts health care plan, saying, "Let me tell you what kind of mandates I like, Fred," Thompson answered: "The ones you come up with." Giuliani suggested that even President Reagan would have been a target of "one of Mitt's negative commercials."
Asked on ABC on Sunday about taking "hits from just about everyone on that stage," Romney said it was a sign of strength, saying: "The guy with the ball is the guy people are trying to tackle. So, I'm delighted to have everybody talking about me."
Having slipped behind in the polls here, Romney stepped up his criticism of McCain on Sunday on the stump, on news shows and at the debate. He singled out McCain's vote against the Bush tax cuts and attacked his support for a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. Romney suggested that McCain was too much of a rebel within the GOP, saying he was "a maverick against his own party" on some issues, such as campaign finance. But he also sought to portray McCain as too much a Senate veteran to bring change.
"He's just been there 27 years and hasn't been able to get the job done," Romney said on Fox News.
"We're not going to have somebody inside Washington turn Washington inside out," he said at Sunday's debate.
"I have been an agent of change," McCain responded, citing his early critique of the "Rumsfeld strategy" in Iraq and push for a troop surge. "I don't know of a better change than saving American lives."
Although McCain might be on the rebound politically, reproducing the energy of his insurgent 2000 campaign might be too much to expect.
His packed event in a school gym Sunday felt less like a boosterish campaign rally than a constituent meeting in which all concerns and complaints are heard. He answered dozens of questions on everything from the Armenian genocide to schools to outsourcing to Iran. He fielded praise and criticism. He allowed extended follow-up questions from people who disagreed with him. He soldiered on when numerous protesters, seeking more money for global AIDS programs, repeatedly interrupted the session. At one point, he told them to quiet down or they might have to answer to McCain's supporters.
"Wilford Brimley is here!" McCain warned, drawing laughter. The actor was in fact present.
Since McCain won in New Hampshire in 2000, he has alienated some independents by defending an unpopular war and some conservatives over his immigration bill and the campaign regulations that he wrote with Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold. His basic sales pitch still is patriotism, service and "straight talk." His standard speech still rails at spending and corruption, but it now is dominated by the issues of war and security and the credit he takes for advocating the troop surge in Iraq.
His rationale for getting elected? "I believe that I can make this world safe," he declared.
Some in the crowd who voted for him in 2000 said they weren't sure this time around. Some, such as registered independent Marilyn Springmann, said they would vote for him again. "He got a little older, but so did I. He's still the same guy," she said.
This was how McCain, 71, put it when asked about his age toward the end of Sunday's debate: "Look, I'm older than dirt. I've got more scars than Frankenstein, but I've learned a few things along the way."
If Wilford is for McCain, who are we to judge? *SMIRK*
If Mitt can beat McCain in NH, McCain is toast. In 2008, my two favorite things would be:
1. Hillary = toast
2. McCain = toast
Now, that’s what I call perfect toast.
With cinnamon sugar on top? ;)
51% negatives nationally. Trashed Republican evangelicals( after he was sucking up to them for months). Now, heavy voting post 60 year olds, and his fellow candidates. For basically two years on the job, Mitt can manufacture some political enemies. Good Job Willard!
He better beat McCain, the guy is broke and Mitt literally lives in New Hampshire and has spent a fortune of his money. Interestingly, if Mitt is so beloved, how come the cash-o-la isn’t coming in? Steve Forbes/Ross Perot redux?
Of Mitt and McCain, which one would I rather see become toast? McCain. That was easy.
“Mitt is toast”
Just how? He will still be leading in delegates.
Just your opinion.
Thompson’s my first choice.
Other races: the Romney’s home state of Michigan, where his father is a legend... the largely Mormon state of Nevada...
If he loses Republican voters, it’s a disaster (at LEAST as big as Bush’s disaster in 2000 *smirk*). But if McCain wins because NH lets all those idiot liberal-leaning Independents, it means nothing.
If he wins, he gets 4 delegates. If he loses, he gets 3 delegates.
If McCain wins tomorrow night, he will have the momentum to stop Romney in Michigan. That’s Romney’s problem — if he stumbles, McCain’s right behind him to roll right over him.
Who among the candidates is exceeding expectations?
With all due respect, it has nothing to do with delegates at this stage of the race. If Romney can’t beat McCain (who was left for dead last summer), he’s not going to be the nominee.
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