Quad City Times, IA
12-20-07
Candidate profiles: John McCain touts military record
By Charlotte Eby
DES MOINES — Republican presidential candidate John McCain started out his
Iowa caucus campaign with high expectations.
The veteran U.S. senator nabbed the early support of high-profile Iowa
Republicans and set up a hefty campaign operation to compete in the state’s
first-in-the-nation caucuses.
Although he skipped Iowa’s caucuses in his 2000 presidential run, his blunt style
earned him respect from voters and the media accustomed to careful parsing by
politicians.
Despite those advantages, McCain’s campaign descended into hard times this
summer after his campaign spent down its hefty cash advantage, and top staffers
resigned.
The campaign was forced to lay off Iowa workers, and McCain appeared at his
Iowa headquarters in July to reassure his top supporters in a closed-door
meeting.
“I am happy about the state of our campaign,” McCain told reporters back then.
“We will do fine. We are competitive, and we will win in Iowa.”
Nearly five months later, McCain has seen his support drop to the single digits in
polls of likely caucus-goers and said he can’t predict how well he’ll do in the state
on Jan. 3.
“It’s all based on expectations. So I guess right now I’m in pretty good shape
because the expectations aren’t real high,” McCain said in a recent interview.
David Roederer, chairman of McCain’s Iowa campaign, said he was drawn to
McCain as a candidate because of his foreign policy experience.
“Until we have a handle on the war on terrorism, all the other issues become a
very distant second,” Roederer said.
McCain’s campaign has largely been focused on his foreign policy credentials
and military record in a time when the nation is at war.
McCain has supported the Bush administration’s strategy of a surge in the
number of troops fighting in the war in Iraq. He hit the campaign trail in Iowa
earlier this year in a bus with a “No Surrender” slogan emblazoned on the side.
“We cannot set a date for surrender, which would be a date for withdrawal from
Iraq,” McCain told a crowd at an AMVETS hall in September.
McCain points out that earlier in 2007, some Democrats had declared the war
lost militarily, but the facts on the ground indicate the situation has significantly
improved.
“If we had left six months ago as the Democrats wanted, al-Qaida would be
telling the entire world that they beat America,” McCain said.
McCain, a naval aviator, was shot down during the Vietnam War and spent a
well-documented five-year stint as a prisoner of war. He argues his experience is
more relevant to the times than that of his rivals.
“I would assert that when we’re in two wars and we’re in a struggle against
radical Islamic extremism, that my background and experience ... informs my
judgment, and I think makes me far more qualified than a mayor or a governor or
a person who served eight years in the Senate,” he said.
Steffen Schmidt, a professor of political science at Iowa State University,
said the problems in McCain’s campaign showed he’s not a good manager and
was unable to handle the rivalries inside his organization.
“He brought too many people who all thought they were chiefs on,” Schmidt said.
Spending decisions by the campaign blew the large campaign war chest McCain
had managed to amass.
“He ended up broke before the car left the garage,” Schmidt said.
Also dogging McCain was a failed immigration reform plan McCain had cosponsored in the Senate. His rivals said the plan would grant “amnesty” for illegal
immigrants.
Iowa House Minority Leader Christopher Rants, R-Sioux City, said McCain is
having problems in Iowa because of his positions on the issues.
“He’s trying to sell stuff that people don’t want to buy,” said Rants, who is backing
Mitt Romney.
Social conservatives also are mistrustful of McCain, Rants said, and are troubled
by his sponsorship of campaign finance reform.
“I just don’t see how the coalition comes together for him,” Rants said.
Arnie Arnesen, a radio and TV talk show host from New Hampshire, describes a
different McCain campaign in New Hampshire. She said voters there are giving
him a second look as other GOP candidates stumble.
McCain is reacquainting New Hampshire voters with the politician they knew
from 1999 and 2000, she said.
“He came home,” she said. “He decided to spend the time here. He decided to
reacquaint himself with his old supporters and remind them why they admired
him seven years ago.”
Rep. Bill Schickel, R-Mason City, never questioned whether he would stand by
McCain, saying he appreciates his integrity and credibility.
He said McCain has a courage of conviction that doesn’t shift with the politics of
the day. One of the benefits of McCain’s staff shakeup, Schickel said, was that it
forced the campaign to get back to basics and rely on volunteers.
“Obviously, he’s had some tough bumps in the road in Iowa, but I think it’s really
a tribute to his character that he’s been so strong,” Schickel said.
Charlotte Eby can be contacted at (515) 243-0138 or chareby@aol.com.