Wednesday, January 09, 2008

JOHN MCCAIN

Hail to the Victors: John McCain Readies For Michigan

John McCain held a conference call with bloggers a few moments ago.

McCain: We’re in Grand Rapids right now. Then we’ve got a couple more stops in Michigan, then head to South Carolina. We’re very pleased. We came, gave them straight talk. We gave em’ the truth, sometimes agreed, sometimes disagreed, sometimes we argued.

I don’t really know what to make of the Clinton-Obama race. I have no real comments on it, other than the people of New Hampshire believe that town hall meetings matter. We did 101 town hall meetings.

The debate after Labor Day was important in Michigan. We did very well, and it started us a little momentum. Then we did the ‘No Surrender’ tour, where we basically rallied support. We led the fight to keep them from adopting not a just date for withdrawal, but also the Webb amendment, which would have mandated a certain amount of time between deployments – which would have effectively forced a withdrawal.

Most people don’t pay attention until the final weeks, final days, or maybe even final hours.

I’m optimistic. We’re going to have to work hard in Michigan, one of Governor Romney’s home towns. We have a lot of work to do in South Carolina. We have Governors Keating and Governor Ridge out helping us. I have no doubt illegal immigration will be a topic of discussion, and it has been the attack mode of Governor Romney.

I just can’t tell you what a wonderful night it was. As I said last night, the word ‘kid’ is hard to associate with me, but it certainly was a heck of a comeback. And we’re proud.

Erick Erickson: Senator Coburn wants investigation into Don Young’s appropriation got back into bill after it had been stripped out. Would you support an executive order to zero out these “airdropped earmarks”?

McCain: Absolutely, absolutely. I appreciate any time Coburn goes after these earmarks. He has torn the crown of ‘Miss Congeniality in the Senate’ from my grasp. I’m proud of the effectiveness of the way he has worked. We have to bring this to a halt. People are sick and tired.

[At this point, McCain excused himself, and had some sort of brief back-and-forth with Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.]

McCain: For those of you that don’t know Senator Lindsey Graham, he’s the most unstable person I’ve ever met. He panics at the slightest provocation. Also, at great expense, we’ve had to supply a translator for him.

Jen Rubin: Exit polls said Romney ran an unfair campaign – agree?

McCain: I don’t know if I would use word unfair, because you know politics ain’t beanbag. The voters in New Hampshire began to tire of all the negative ads;. It got so I wouldn’t turn on the television. That had a negative impact, particularly because he had just done the same thing in Iowa.

Rubin follow up: Exit polls suggested you were the first in preference to be commander-in-chief.

McCain: You see challenges every day. Iranian waterway, Pakistan, even Kenya now . Challenges go on and on, and I think I was able to convince a majority of voters.

Doug Lambert, GraniteGrok: How can you duplicate this in national contests?

McCain: We’ve spent a lot of time in Michigan and South Carolina. We’re aware of sequence of primaries. History suggests winner of 2 out of 3 – Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina — usually is the nominee. We have to buy media, and we’re doing that. The money is coming in much better. It’s going to be a frenzied pace, my friend.

Local media is the key to it, you have to do the townhall meetings and then get the local media to cover it. Florida is three or four major media markets.

I don’t know what other kind of campaign we could do.

Me: What went right in 2000 that you need to have go right again this cycle?

McCain: In 2000, we had some momentum coming out of New Hampshire. The state has a lot of independent-minded voters. There is a strong national defense component there. One of our jobs here is to tell people my record on social issues, because social conservatives are a significant block of the electorate - home schoolers, very conservative voters. I think that also we’ve got enough money to buy a respectable amount of media and gotten the endorsement of the Detroit News and Detroit Free Press. I think we’re likely to get some others around the state.

And indeed, Michigan is considered one of Romney’s hometowns, but I would note Boston was viewed as his hometown as well.

Soren Dayton: What’s your message on the Michigan economy?

My message is several – obviously, lower taxes. It’s a mistake to raise taxes when the economy is tough. I think funding for pure R&D is appropriate for Congress.

We know Michigan is hurting. Unemployment is 7 percent, it’s one of only two states with declining population. We need job training and education for displaced workers. Community colleges can provide good job training for these workers.

We can’t leave these people behind. A lot of these jobs are not coming back, so we’ve got to create new ones.

Michael Goldfarb: More Lieberman on the stump?

McCain: Yeah, he is. He’s definitely scheduled to appear here in Michigan with me on Monday.

Dan Nowicki, Arizona Republic: Is all fundraising over the Internet?

McCain: We have some fundraising scheduled, but most of it’s coming in over the Internet. It’s quite large.

Ed Morrissey: Congratulations on frontrunner status. Thoughts on qualities you would like to find in a running mate?

McCain said he hadn’t thought much about the qualities he’s looking for in a running mate. “I’m optimistic, Ed, but I’m not that optimistic.” Mentions national security.

David Brody: Huckabee?

01/09 12:42 PMShare