WHEN a poll of New Hampshire voters found that John McCain was in a statistical dead heat with George W. Bush, one of the Arizona senator’s enthusiastic campaign aides dismissed talk about the “McCain Moment.” Buoyed by the survey, he proposed instead a “McCain Millennium”—because “what we have seen in New Hampshire in the last few weeks is not just a plausible path to victory, but a tangible one.” A growing number of McCain’s supporters believe he can win the nomination after fatally wounding Bush in New Hampshire. Bush has an enormous lead in national polls, fundraising, and endorsements, but McCain’s backers smell blood.
Although McCain—like Bush—is a novice as a national candidate, he is a more experienced political performer. He relishes mixing it up with town-hall audiences. One McCain supporter contrasts his candidate’s media-savvy command of the issues with Bush’s recent stumbling over foreign policy. He notes a growing unease with a frontrunner “who can’t be scripted forever” and Invoke The SANITY CLAUS
Comments