McCain walks Iowa tightrope (OWH)

[Omaha Steve]

Note the OWH site is running a little slow this morning.

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2835&u_sid=2348485

MASON CITY, Iowa - Sen. John McCain of Arizona worked hard for years to make himself the all-but-inevitable 2008 Republican presidential nominee, assembling a formidable machine of advisers and contributors, repairing his relationship with the Bush White House and reaching out to conservatives long wary of his views.

But on Thursday, as he began what was supposed to be a triumphant day, his first bus trip across Iowa, he was instead faced with a sense among Republicans that his campaign had faltered in the early going and that his political identity had been blurred rather than enhanced by his efforts to position himself as first in line for his party's nomination.

As he rolled out of Des Moines in the vehicle that in the 2000 campaign became a potent symbol of his message and appeal, the "Straight Talk Express," he was in some ways starting over, reintroducing himself to voters and reporters and trying to address a host of questions that follow him everywhere he goes.


U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., steps off his campaign bus after arriving at the Iowa Statehouse before speaking to Iowa legislators, Thursday, March 15, 2007, in Des Moines, Iowa.

"Everybody says we just want you to be like last time," he said, sitting amid a cluster of microphones in what turned into a daylong conversation with reporters, punctuated by the occasional meeting with voters. "Last time, we lost, but I haven't changed any, and as we go through the town hall meetings and the debate, I can make that abundantly clear."

FULL story at link.

[skipos]

1. Wha? The Weathervane McCain Train isn't doing so well?!?

What a surprise. :eyes:

[TwilightGardener]

2. "I haven't changed any?" HUH? He's admitted that he's gone

over to the "dark side". Is he going senile? He needs to get his ass back to the Senate and do some damn WORK for the people of AZ, like the rest of the candidate-senators. Weekends and recesses are for campaigning.