** McCain gives nod to Kerry campaign
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by Andrew Miga
The Boston Herald
Monday, June 30, 2003
www2.bostonherald.com
WASHINGTON - GOP maverick Sen. John McCain, whose breezy straight-talking style ignited the 2000 White House race, predicts Sen. John Kerry could rekindle the same campaign magic this time around.
``He certainly can,'' McCain (R-Ariz.) said in a telephone interview with the Herald from Arizona.
``He's smart, he's tough and he's experienced. He has the capability.''
McCain, meanwhile, was skeptical that upstart Democrat Howard Dean, who considers himself the McCain of the 2004 race, could ultimately show wide political appeal.
``He is coming out of a kind of antiestablishment role that clearly resonates with some voters,'' said McCain. ``But I don't know if that can play with the broader electorate, the American public.''
Dean's appeal to hard-core liberals has undercut Kerry, particularly in New Hampshire, the leadoff primary state that Kerry can't afford to lose.
McCain defended Kerry from Dean's recent attacks charging the Bay State senator lacks ``courage'' on such issues as tax cuts, the war with Iraq and education.
``I do not believe that's a fair criticism,'' said McCain. ``Governor Dean has spent some time apologizing to people recently for some of the things he's said.''
Kerry and McCain, both decorated Vietnam veterans, forged a friendship working on the POW-MIA issue several years ago.
Asked if Kerry was the Democratic candidate most closely resembling him, McCain demurred.
``I don't know,'' he said. ``He and I are very good personal friends, so my objectivity is probably skewed.''
McCain said he would not be surprised if political foes and the press try to pick apart or distort Kerry's combat record.
``Primaries are awful nasty,'' McCain said. ``But I would be surprised if there's anything in John Kerry's military background that would hurt him.''
McCain was victimized by a vicious whispering campaign during the 2000 South Carolina primary alleging he was brainwashed as a POW.
McCain also recalled a Senate hearing on POW-MIAs where a man accused him of being a ``Manchurian Candidate'' manipulated by his Viet Cong captors.
``I was about to lose my temper,'' McCain recalled. ``I felt (Kerry's) hand on my shoulder, and he said, `John, don't dignify it with a response.' He had a cool head.' ''
Kerry wants to borrow a page from the political playbook of McCain, whose war-hero status helped propel his underdog campaign in a string of early presidential primary contests against George Bush.
``People will appreciate your service to the country,'' McCain said. ``It's a good credential to have, but people want more.
``They want to know what you are going to do for them now.''
While painfully aware that Kerry lacks McCain's personal charisma, the Kerry camp nonetheless is modeling much of its primary campaign after the Straight Talk Express, McCain's novel presidential bid that featured guerrilla-style tactics and populist rhetoric.
Other Democratic presidential hopefuls are also scrambling to inherit McCain's campaign mantle.
Kerry calls McCain ``one of the joys of my service in the Senate.''
McCain's words of praise for Kerry, however, came with a caveat about gauging the mood of voters as the 2004 presidential race unfolds.
The Arizona Republican said the popularity of such war books and films as ``The Greatest Generation'' and ``Saving Private Ryan'' lifted his campaign, but he warned pop culture may have since shifted.
``It's hard to know what the atmosphere is out there, but I'm confident John Kerry can connect with people in the same way,'' he said. ``We were fortunate to have a volatile mixture that we put a match to.'' |
