“We must win in Iraq. If we withdraw, there will be chaos; there will be genocide; and they will follow us home.” — J. McCain

A few months ago, words like “implosion” and “meltdown” were being used to describe the presidential campaign of Arizona Senator John McCain. By early summer of 2007, McCain was out of money, had fired his top aides, and was being all but counted out by some of his media admirers. Resilience, however, is a McCain trademark.

Chuck Douglas, a former congressman and state Supreme Court justice and a key supporter of the Arizonan, believes the campaign had squandered money on headquarters and organizations all over the country instead of focusing on the early primary states like New Hampshire and South Carolina. “It was more like what you have to do next summer instead of what we’re doing now,” he said.

That has changed, he said, though McCain still trails Giuliani and Romney in New Hampshire and nationally in the polls. McCain is having a tough time drumming up support because of his defense of the Bush policy in Iraq and the president’s “guest worker” program that would allow illegal immigrants to obtain legal status. Douglas concedes those stands have hurt McCain, but he adds: “One of his endearing qualities is that he does what he honestly believes is the right thing.”

McCain also earned the enmity of the National Rifle Association and pro-life groups — both important constituencies in Republican primaries — by pushing for and finally achieving a campaign finance law limiting corporate and labor contributions and restricting independent issue ads. But his reputation as a “deficit hawk,” bolstered by his opposition to adding a prescription drug benefit to Medicare and his vote against the heavily earmarked $318.9 billion transportation bill of 2004, may help him with voters in low-tax, low-budget states like New Hampshire.

The son and grandson of Navy admirals, McCain is a former Navy pilot who was shot down over North Vietnam in 1967 and endured five and a half years as a prisoner of war. He won two terms in the House of Representatives starting in 1982 and was first elected to the Senate in 1986. He has been a consistent “hawk” on military and foreign policy issues. He supported the Clinton air war over Bosnia, while criticizing the president for ruling out the use of ground forces. While critical of some of the strategy employed in Iraq and of former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in particular, McCain has been among the most consistent and outspoken defenders of the war in Iraq and insists that the Bush surge strategy is working. He has also backed the administration’s hard line on Iran over that nation’s alleged efforts to develop a nuclear weapon.

He has been known to part company with his Republican colleagues and the White House on environmental issues, calling for increased efforts to curb greenhouse gases and voting against drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Never a favorite of the religious right, McCain voted against a proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages.

McCain has a mixed record on pro-life issues, having backed the ban on partial-birth abortion, but also having voted for funding research that requires killing human embryos. McCain, in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, said he is opposed to overturning Roe v. Wade. He has opposed some anti-gun legislation, but he has also supported legislation by the gun-control lobby, such as mandated trigger locks and regulations that would virtually shut down gun shows. McCain’s pro-life and pro-gun record compares favorably with the positions taken by the perceived leaders in the battle for the Republican nomination, Douglas says. “Romney has been on both sides of those issues,” he says, “and Giuliani is on the wrong side of both issues.”

In the international arena, McCain believes that free-trade pacts are the route to safety for Americans and respect for America. He says in an article he authored for Foreign Affairs: “To unite us with friends and allies in a common prosperity, as president I will aggressively promote global trade liberalization at the World Trade Organization and expand America’s free-trade agreements to friendly nations on every continent.” This would include “developing a common energy policy [with the European Union], creating a transatlantic common market, … and institutionalizing cooperation on issues such as climate change, foreign assistance, and democracy promotion.”

He also wants to create a League of Democracies to put pressure on target countries when the UN doesn’t take what the United States deems to be appropriate action. He is also for getting militarily involved in conflicts around the world — such as Darfur — to safeguard the world and build U.S. credibility.

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