Associated Press
03-26-07
Media‘s access to McCain may prove risky
Staff and agencies
By PHILIP ELLIOTT, Associated Press Writer 19 minutes ago
MANCHESTER, N.H. - Republic, is back in New Hampshire and back embracing
straight talk. And talk. And talk. And talk. Aboard his campaign bus, the Arizona
senator entertains reporters with stories, answers their questions and heckles
bloggers. He‘s by far the most accessible of the candidates, Republican or
Democratic. But McCain acknowledges there‘s a risk to full days on the record,
without breaks to vent, decompress or even eat in private.
There isn‘t.
"One of the reasons Republicans lost the war — excuse me, lost the election," he
said in Ames, Iowa. Then, in Milford, N.H., he said, "My friends, we lost the war
— we lost the election, we lost the election because of spending."
Despite the self-inflicted wounds, McCain said he‘s not about to cut off his almost
constant exposure to the media or would-be voters.
In some ways, McCain doesn‘t have a choice.
McCain experienced some of what he candidly describes as "a problem with footin-mouth" in 2000. But he was the upstart in that year‘s GOP race; now he‘s a
candidate of the Republican establishment.
Fallout from a recent question in Iowa highlights the difference. A reporter asked
McCain his position on U.S. funding of condoms to fight HIV / AIDS .
He asked an aide to come forward.
The Democratic National Committee pounced, sending reporters previous
McCain statements indicating he supported aid to developing nations to fund
condom purchases and distribution.
"Neither party should be defined by pandering to the outer reaches of American
politics and the agents of intolerance, whether they be Louis Farrakhan or Al
Sharpton on the left, or Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell on the right," McCain says
in one.
Since then, he has accepted a speaking invitation to Falwell‘s Liberty University.
The rise of YouTube and blogs has some questioning how well McCain‘s
openness will work this time.
"I‘m not sure you can do what worked some years ago and have it work over
again. It‘s not the casing of the sausage that matters; it‘s what‘s inside," said
Iowa State University political science professor Steffen Schmidt.
McCain skipped Iowa in 2000 partly because he opposed subsidies for cornbased ethanol. He‘s revised his views and now jokes to Iowa reporters that he
has a glass of ethanol with breakfast every day — a punchline heard repeatedly
as his bus rumbles down highways.
On Saturday, between a VFW town-hall meeting and a visit to a maple syrup
shack, McCain ate hot-dogs in the back of the bus. He smeared the mustard on
his meal before chatting about ethanol subsidies and repeating the joke.
The conversations aren‘t all policy questions, though. Reporters on his bus this
weekend compared NCAA basketball brackets with the senator. They know he
prefers the original "Manchurian Candidate" to the remake. And he says "there‘s
probably a place for Harry Truman" portrait on a West Wing wall if he were
elected president.
"It makes the folks at the front of the bus" — the campaign staff — "insane," said
Steve Duprey, a former state GOP chairman who travels through New
Hampshire with the senator as a senior adviser.
It‘s a sharp contrast to other campaigns, which manage the candidates‘ public
appearances and limit their exposure. By the time McCain left New Hampshire
on Sunday, he spoke at five town hall-style meetings; Republican front-runner
and former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani will have attended none.
During a group interview on his bus in New Hampshire in mid-March, McCain
said the instantaneous nature of the campaign is a potential downside because
of his accessibility, but argued: "To change our method of campaigning would be
insane."