MILFORD, N.H. (AP) – Sen. John McCain and his “Straight Talk Express” returned to New Hampshire highways Saturday, dragging with them questions about whether the Arizona Republican could repeat his 2000 primary win, despite his support for an unpopular war in Iraq.
McCain set out to answer those concerns and invoke his scrappy campaign eight years ago against party favorite, then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush.
“Remember? I was second-tier back in 1999,” McCain told reporters on his bus as he rode from a Nashua hotel and his first stop in Milford.
But he’s no longer the insurgent candidate. He’s not trailing by huge margins, although former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani bests him in most head-to-head surveys. And McCain is no longer focusing solely on New Hampshire, a state he won by 19 points in 2000.
Despite the changes, McCain said he plans to repeat the 2000 tactics, including another win in New Hampshire.
“It’s the same McCain; the same Straight Talk; the same, frankly, people with me; same wife,” he said.
Aboard his bus, McCain was asked if the reference to his wife, Cindy, was a swipe at rival Giuliani, who has divorced a wife and married for a third time since 2000. McCain said he wasn’t talking about Giuliani, but added that voters could decide which attributes they sought in a candidate.
Instead, McCain said he would focus on his campaign and was largely ignoring the others.
“To change our method of campaigning would be insane,” McCain said. “This has got to be fun.”
The amusement will matter less than the message, experts said.
“If you’d called three or four months ago, I would’ve said he doesn’t even have to show up in New Hampshire to win the New Hampshire primary,” said Dartmouth College professor Linda Fowler.
But November’s midterm results, the growing unpopularity with the war in Iraq and his moves to the right could hurt his chance of a repeat win, she said.
McCain sought to set aside those question with his opening remarks about Iraq, repeating his stance that presidents and political parties don’t lose wars – nations do – and that voters should give the new military strategy in Iraq a chance.
It was his effort to head-off the testy questions that pestered him elsewhere.
“I think because I gave such a long comment at the beginning, I hope that I didn’t leave much out about the war. I have no doubt about the intensity of the feeing about the war in New Hampshire,” McCain told reporters.
Richard Lowney of Amherst, N.H., said the McCain he saw on Saturday was the same one he supported in 2000.
“Some of these guys go from being people to becoming candidates,” said Lowney, a veteran. “McCain doesn’t care about polls. He cares about what he believes. This isn’t about politics, it’s about what he believes.”
Even so, Millie Frambach, of Amherst, N.H., supported McCain in 2000 but is hesitating this time.
“It’s going to be a long fight for Senator McCain,” she said. “He doesn’t do soundbites well and there are others who only do the soundbites.”
Frambach, like many in McCain’s crowds Saturday, remembers the 2000 campaign for McCain’s constant presence and his underdog story line.
“It would be nice if he could turn back that clock, but we know he can’t,” said Dean Spiliotes, research director at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at St. Anselm College. “He did capture something special that time around. But do people view him as a significantly different candidate?”
The key will be the base he built in 2000 – and maintained since then with frequent phone calls from him and his staff.
“I don’t think things are going to be that different,” said state Sen. John Gallus, a McCain supporter. “It’s a home ground to him to some degree. He’s bringing a lot of the people who supported him last time.”
But not all. Some of his top supporters in New Hampshire have defected to competing camps, while others are keeping their picks private or staying home. Some doubt that political lighting could strike twice and question if McCain can be the spark again.
Hollis resident and registered independent Linda Rice said the town meeting was “like seeing an old friend.” But after McCain’s appearance in Milford, she said she was still considering Sen. Barack Obama, a Democrat from Illinois.
“John McCain was energized, but I’m not sure.”
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