Sen. John McCain's supporters cheer as he speaks Sunday, Nov. 2, 2008 in Peterborough, N.H. (AP Photo/Mary Schwalm)
by Jill Zuckman
PETERBOROUGH, N.H. - The old Navy fighter pilot has always had his lucky charms and superstitions to carry him through the day.
Sen. John McCain, now the Republican candidate for president, still likes to do things a certain way. He carries a lucky penny, thanks to the editor of the Union Leader of New Hampshire. He wears a lucky blue sweater on Election Day, which used to be green before it became unlucky in Michigan. And for both of his primary night victories in 2000 and 2008, he made sure to stay in the same Nashua hotel.
Sunday, he returned to this picturesque town in the Monadnock Region to talk to the voters and answer their questions at a town hall, his favorite style of campaigning. This is the place where he held one of his first town hall meetings in 2000, bribing voters with the promise of ice cream if they would just show up. And this is the place where he held his 100th town hall in 2008 before going on to win the primary in a spectacular comeback story.
With Election Day in sight on Tuesday, McCain took a sentimental journey back to a state he loves, but also to a town that he is sure brings him good luck.
He was greeted by more than 2,000 supporters standing in the street outside the old town hall building, cheering him on.
"Thank you for your friendship," McCain told the frenzied gathering before going inside. "I came to say thank you, but I came to ask you for one more effort."
Inside the building, it was like a family reunion, picking up where McCain had left off. He pledged to do everything in his power to protect New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary status. He promised to forego all of the old Mo Udall jokes that he has told hundreds of times at campaign events around the state.
And he vowed to clean up Washington.
"We've got to reform the way we do business in Washington and we've got a long list of reforms and it's got to be done in a bipartisan basis," said McCain, striking a theme that connects with less partisan voters here. "We've got to reach across the aisle and do it together."
Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman, who had crossed party lines to endorse McCain during the primary, wore what he said was his lucky red sweater to help make a pitch for independents and "sensible" Democrats.
"I'm a Democrat, elected as an Independent, here to support the Republican nominee for president," said Lieberman. "I'm only following the model John McCain set - country matters more than party."
Advisers suggested that McCain visit someplace closer to the airport in Manchester to save time, but McCain insisted on making the hour-long drive through wooded, rolling hills in order to get to the red brick town hall that seems to symbolize his success as a presidential candidate.
For the voters who lined up early enough to get inside and get a seat, the questions they had ready for McCain were hardly contentious, to say the least.
"I may be jumping a little ahead, but Mr. President, I have a question," one gentleman said to wild applause.
Nevertheless, McCain finds himself lagging in the polls here. Most political analysts believe the state, with just four electoral votes, has turned blue, out of reach for most Republicans. But McCain believes it's still possible to win, advisers said, based in part on his history.
"He has a special bond there," said Mark Salter, his senior adviser. "We wouldn't go there if we didn't think he could win the state."
As the election wraps up, McCain will do what he usually does at the end of a campaign. He'll hold a midnight rally Monday night on the courthouse steps in Prescott, the old territorial capital of Arizona, where Barry Goldwater began and ended his 1964 presidential quest. And finally, he'll watch a movie on Election Day - probably while wearing his lucky blue sweater with his lucky penny in his pocket.
Comments
Please go to YouTube and watch historic videos of John McCain, checkout "John McCain vs. John McCain" and there are many more. He was code named songbird in Nam, because he gave much info to the Vietnamese so he would not be torchered he is no hero. these videos will show you a babbling liar. Also look at Obamas history he checks out very well.
Posted by: Chuck Ramirez | November 2, 2008 8:32 PM
It is not about luck - it is about intellect, temperament, and the ability to read the public. The question is, will we choose an Obama Nation or an abomination. ..................
http://thefiresidepost.com/2008/11/01/obama-nation-or-abomination/
Posted by: Ohg Rea Tone | November 2, 2008 8:37 PM
Only 3 charms??
Barack has a whole pocket full.
NYT even did a piece on them as I recall.
John, he's got you outnumbered even in terms of lucky charms!
Time to start working on that concession speech.
Posted by: ornery | November 2, 2008 9:17 PM
The GOP's doleful prospects extend to North Carolina, where the fruits of a rotten campaign mean Sen. Libby (Dole) is about to be canned.
Posted by: Martin Edwin Andersen | November 2, 2008 9:50 PM
Where are Sarahs medical records? What makes Palin's refusal increasingly strange is that she told Brian Williams two weeks that she would release them; the campaign promised ABC News -- whose Kate Snow has tenaciously asked "every day [last] week" -- that it would release them early last week; and yet she still has not done so. It seems clear that she now has no intention of releasing them before the election.
What is Sarah hiding?
Posted by: bill "Hussein" r. | November 2, 2008 9:55 PM
McCain is desperate, Palin is a drooling little shitzu (stress the SHITzu).
Since Wall Street collapsed, my paycheck is almost paying my bills.
As a working class American, I can no longer afford McBush!
Posted by: Mitch | November 2, 2008 9:56 PM
Mitch, I assume you are one of the millions of folks who seem to believe that the mortgage / credit meltdown was caused by Republicans.
Sad. For decades, one party led the assault on mortgage underwriting standards. This was the Democratic party. It is a fact. This started with the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 under President Carter.
The assault continued through the 1990s, through the Clinton Administration, which pressured Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to reach for 50% of their mortgage holdings (or in other words, 25% of all mortgages in USA) as subprime mortgages.
Here is the September, 1999 NY Times article describing the new subprime lending program that Fannie Mae was introducing, under presssure from the Clinton Administration:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE7DB153EF933A0575AC0A96F958260&sec=&spon=&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
Next, you can watch actual congressional testimony, via C-SPAN, where we see one party beating up on the federal regulator of Fannie Mae, and one party pleading for more regulation. Yes, it was 100% of the Democrats beating up on the regulator, and 100% of the Republicans asking for more regulation.
http://
www.youtube.com
/watch?v=_MGT_cSi7Rs&feature=related
Next, you can study the Senate Bill S. 190, the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005, cosponsored by John McCain, that was opposed by 100% of Democrats in the Senate Banking Committee, and supported by 100% of the Republicans on that committee:
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s109-190
Next, you can look up former President Clinton's remarks to ABC's Chris Cuomo, here he said that for years, Democrats have been "resisting any efforts by Republicans in the Congress or by me when I was President to put some standards and tighten up a little on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac."
Or, you can continue to live under a rock and keep believing Republicans caused this.
EXTRA CREDIT - look up what role the activist group ACORN played in the meltdown. Which party funded ACORN ? Which presidential nominee represented ACORN as an attorney and which presidential nominee trained their leadership ?
Posted by: Content ofHisCharacter | November 2, 2008 11:52 PM
I truly think the guy in the background (in black) is giving McCain the finger. Subtle, yet effective, IMO.
Posted by: Leebo | November 2, 2008 11:55 PM
NEWS FLASH:
Costco, Walmart and K-Mart are all reporting runs on all kinds of chairs and stools.
The Little People are rushing to these and other retail outlets to make sure that on Tuesday they can reach the Obama-Biden lever at their polling booths.
Posted by: Martin Edwin Andersen | November 3, 2008 1:19 AM
Investigative tip:
John McCain and Sarah Palin will be receiving free coal in their stockings this Christmas!
(Check it out ...)
Posted by: Martin Edwin Andersen | November 3, 2008 1:20 AM
As lame as this guy is, Hobama would be so much worse. He has no soul. Everything he has done in his life has been '...so as not to seem like a sellout.' I feel sorry for him.
Posted by: stop lying | November 3, 2008 6:57 AM
Just remember, folks, who's been running Congress for the past two years. To place the blame for the financial meltdown solely at the feet of the GOP defies logic. You should be just as disgusted with Frank, Dodd and company.
Posted by: Rebecca | November 3, 2008 7:02 AM
McCain's lucky charms didn't work so well in Vietnam - they won't work on election day either when he is shot down one more time!
Posted by: Independent | November 3, 2008 7:10 AM
So McSame says that "he'll clean up Washington". Considering the fact that he's worked there for the past 26 years, why the hell hasn't he done any cleaning during those 26 years? Why does he have a campaign staff loaded with K Street lobbyists? Why not start with cleaning up his own house first?
Posted by: BC | November 3, 2008 10:46 AM