Tempers flared as a horde of journalists jostled its way through the headquarters of Granite State Manufacturing last week. "Where are you from?" demanded a cameraman with a shaved head toting an unwieldy television camera on his shoulder. His question was directed at a tanned TV news reporter with Lego hair who kept thrusting his Fox 10 microphone in front of the candidate. "You should tell your cameraman that he's not the only one here! He keeps walking right into my shot!"It was crowded. There were also two boom microphones, seven television cameras, ten still photographers, and at least a dozen print reporters.
This was not what I expected when I decided to join John McCain for the launch of his fall campaign. For much of the summer, the only stories about McCain's campaign told of its demise and the imminent end of his political career. The conventional wisdom in Washington: He's finished.
McCain has certainly had a difficult few months. His fundraising has been weak, his spending excessive, his campaign staff gutted. He favored Bush-style immigration reform; GOP primary voters do not. And he is the most outspoken proponent of the unpopular Iraq war among the candidates.
One commentator after another has informed us that McCain's support for the war dooms his campaign. Even with positive reports out of Iraq from the unlikeliest sources--Carl Levin? Hillary Clinton?--the prevailing sense is that McCain is playing an unwinnable hand.
McCain thinks they're all wrong, and he's betting his candidacy on it. In appearances across southern New Hampshire last week, he spoke mostly about the war and the need to win it. This week, he will travel through several states with pro-war veterans in what his campaign is calling the "No Surrender Tour."
If this were poker, he'd be all in.
You can read the whole article here. Thanks go to the Corner for the link.
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