McCain Momentum

We can call it that now, for in a recent CNN poll, McCain has bounced up five points in NH, with Romney taking a 7 point dive. What can explain this?

Well, for one thing, McCain paused his campaign to focus on his "No Surrender" tour, which was about the war, the valor of our soldiers, and the importance of keeping the terror war from our shores. McCain did what even Bush couldn't, and that is, explain the seriousness of the war to the heartland. In sum, while Rudy takes phone calls from his wife at speeches, Fred is lazy as the day is long, and Romney is all things to all people, McCain is presidential. Let me repeat. McCain is Presidential.

This bounce should come as no surprise to pollsters as well, for at the end of the day, social conservatives will not back pretenders, flipfloppers or panderers. Liberal R's will vote for Rudy, Social cons will meander between Huckabee and Brownback, Romney will become irrelevant as Rudy and McCain begin their ad sweeps. In fact, I would bet the reason why Romney has enjoyed some success at second place is simply because he is putting all his money into early ad blitzes. But once all the campaigns start the ad war, Romney will have to atone for his convenient floppings from his early senate races, to the governorship of taxachussettes, and now the Presidency.

All the while, McCain has been right on the war for years now, and he had a better time explaining that cause to America. McCain's momentum shows he is the only candidate with the gravitas to win, and more important, to lead.

McCain in Indianapolis

John McCain is coming to Indy. Governor Mitch Daniels and former Indiana Senator Dan Coats are hosting....

Indianapolis Fundraising Reception
When: September 21, 2007 6:00 p.m.
Where: Please Call For Details

Join John McCain for a Fundraising Reception in Indianapolis, IN on Friday September 21st. Please check back for further details and news about the event.

Staff Contact: Pam Kinsey - 847-446-9102

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No Surrender

McCain's shining moment in last week's debate came by way of Slick Romney's faux paux. Romney indicated that the surge in Iraq was "appearantly working". McCain corrected him, to say the strategy IS WORKING.

McCain has been right all along on Iraq. For four years, McCain has said the war was mismanaged. For four years, he has advocated soldiers on the ground managing the war, instead of polls and armchair generals in the Senate. McCain tied himself to General Petreaus and his assessment, and asked the nation to wait for the surge to work while McCain lost his standing in the presidential race. And now we have a report, recommendations, and a exit strategy with honor. McCain was right all along.

And while other pols have tried to avoid taking a stand on Iraq, McCain stuck to his guns, and defined courage. In fact, his opponents, Rudy Giuliani and Mike Huckabee have said that if they were not running for President, they would vote for McCain. That is a hefty compliment.

John McCain is governing while he is running for president. He takes policy positions and still tries to do his job as a senior senator. He makes tough calls, unpopular calls and sees them through. And in this latest debate over Iraq, he was right all along.

Let's Talk Age

When asked about his age, McCain usually offers a cool retort...that most people seem to expect to see the septuagenarian drooling into a paper cup. Far from it, Senator McCain is a survivor. He has been more up front with his medical history than any recent candidate for the office, often noting how his nonagenarian mother toured Europe last year...and when the rental agency would not give her a car due to her age, she bought one.

Despite the anecdotal evidence, we know Americans are living longer. And the longevity breeds experience, the kind of long-view experience that only McCain offers in this election cycle. He has seen it all, as a combat veteran (the ONLY top tier combat veteran in the election, on both sides) and as a career public servant. For some reason however, the idea of someone serving over 50 is scaring pollsters. So much so, that by age alone, most Americans think that anyone over 70 is too old for the White House.

Too old? Reagan was 68 and served into his midseventies and did not miss a beat. We have had in recent memory "older" presidents. Only since the baby boomers began running for office as the idea of a 48 year-old president become a model. And the truth is, when you think of the blunders of Bush and Clinton, maybe an extra decade on the clock is what we need, a seasoned leader, who has seen it all several times, who knows exactly what does not work in government and has been around long enough to know when to reach across the aisle, and when to throw fire.

Not much of an Implosion as McCain is still a presence.

John McCain had a rough July, With what the media is calling an "exodus", McCain's key staff diminished in matter of weeks. As everyone seems to be awaiting the paper tiger campaign on Fred Thompson, McCain, oddly, is still a presence in the polls.


Senator McCain leads the pack when it comes to who Americans trust more to be commander-in-chief during a war. It seems that the rest of the field, Republican and Democrat, have avoided war talk in the hope of being pleasant enough to be elected. McCain ran into the fire with Iraq, and while overall, it has cost him, he still is the most trusted to lead our armed forces in the War on Terror.


And while Money Man Mitt is leading in fundraising, he cannot seem to get ahead of McCain in Florida polling. As the far right gets squeamish on Giuliani's social conservative flipflopping, McCain still enjoys a comfortable third place in polling. If each of these top tier candidates take a primary state or two, we might just have an interesting Republican National Convention in 2008.

After the Sunday Morning ABC News debate, it is clear that McCain is still a contender, despite the bad press. He is still the most articulate on the seriousness of Islamic terrorism, the only candidate who is serious about pork spending that will burden generations of Americans with the cash and spend mentality of Congress, and the only candidate who has been consistently conservative throughout his career. All of that, without a fraction of Money Mitt's machine in Iowa.

And of course, all of Mitt's spending in Iowa is pretty meaningless when most Iowa Caucus goers have shown a relative indifference to this field of candidates. We have a rather boring slate of flip-floppers, has been's, never-will-be's, and one constant in John McCain.

Americans ought to look to McCain's candidacy in the same manner the College of Cardinals did when choosing a successor to John Paul the Great. McCain is the most experienced, most readied, and most consistent candidate of the lot. He is senior, and may only serve a term, but that term, the "interregnum" between the neoconservative failure of George Bush and the next generation of actual conservatives, too green to lead our nation, is critical. No candidate on either side of the aisle sports McCain's resume, and right now, we need a consistent warrior for freedom. That choice is still John McCain.

Hiatus

HoosiersforMcCain is on a vacation hiatus. See y'all July 31.

DGH

Clueless

In this race for the presidency in 2008, it is clear that the majority of voters still do not have a clue as to whom they will vote. Mainstream media is quick to point out that McCain is dropping in the polls, and also, is running on empty when it comes to money on hand.

However, all of this early speculating on the polls proves how erratic this election cycle is.

A look on pollingreport.com will show that despite what the media is saying, McCain still is very competitive. In all the major media polls, CNN, CBS, FOXNews, etc. McCain holds a second to third place lead over Romney, who despite his money and advertising on those markets, still sits in the single digits. What is more revealing about pollingreport.com is that 61% of Republicans are pining for more choices in the race. I have to read that as a lot of Republicans are unsettled over who to pick.

Romney's "lead" in Iowa, as reported in recent press, is really a paper tiger. Without Giuliani and McCain actively competing in the Ames Straw Poll, Romney is the the only top-tier candidate there, and subsequently, the only choice. You have to realize that when players like Tommy Thompson, Sam Brownback, and Mike Huckabee are exerting vast resources in Iowa, and you are missing the top two rivals, it is a meaningless poll. Romney in this early Iowa decision will be like the New York Yankees going to trounce the Bad News Bears of the Republican Party. The only advantage for Romney would be to get a win, a weak win, going into New Hampshire. That "first in the nation vote" where McCain has always been a favorite, may occur as early as December of 2007.

What will be interesting with all of this polling is that when the lower tier candidates start dropping out by December, we will get to see who they will support. Will candidates like Huckabee, Tommy Thompson, and Brownback openly support a pro-choice Giuliani or a flip-flopping Romney? Will they see the national polls and realize that only McCain or Giuliani can upset Hillary Clinton?

All of this speculation proves that we know nothing about this race until New Hampshire.