Decision 2008

McCain vows to rebuild campaign

Arizona senator comes to Michigan to rekindle support that gave him a big victory in 2000.

Gordon Trowbridge / Detroit News Washington Bureau

BENTON HARBOR -- In February 2000, Michigan had handed John McCain perhaps his greatest political victory, a win in the state's Republican presidential primary that the Arizona senator had hailed as forging "a new McCain majority."

Monday night in a crowded community college banquet hall, McCain was back, trying to rebuild his campaign from what Washington pundits have declared a near-death experience -- flagging fundraising and poll numbers, and an exodus of key aides.

All the strengths that built that upset 2000 win were placed in front of a sellout crowd of more than 1,000: McCain's ease and good humor with voters, the occasional bluntness made famous on 2000's "Straight Talk Express," the legions of admirers who nearly swoon while waiting for an autograph from the Vietnam hero.

After the speech, he tells reporters he must continue to support the Iraq war, despite its unpopularity, because "I have to do the right thing."

A woman standing behind the press corps murmurs: "Refreshing, isn't it?" as if McCain was the best soft drink money could buy.

Still, the problems McCain faces also are made clear during and after 75 minutes with the Economic Club of Southwestern Michigan: skeptical questions about Iraq and immigration, and about his viability seven years after his political zenith.

"His prepared remarks would have been wonderful, in 2000," said Donna Probasco, a business owner and economic club member.

Probasco says she's a lifelong Republican, disillusioned by Iraq and budget deficits, who almost certainly will vote Democratic in 2008.

Aid from Michigan friends

That 2000 win and plenty of time in the state since have cemented some important relationships, from U.S. Rep. Fred Upton of St. Joseph, who introduced McCain to the crowd, to Chuck Yob, the influential Republican National Committee member whose son runs McCain's Michigan campaign.

McCain has dominated fundraising on the state's west side, raising nearly three times as much in the Grand Rapids area as Michigan native Mitt Romney. Two more fundraisers, in St. Joseph and Ada, were planned for Tuesday.

"We have spent a lot of time here and we have a lot of friends here," McCain said. "I have an opportunity to do well here. But I've got to keep coming back. You know, people expect to see you."

Calls for line-item veto

McCain's speech focuses on the economy and budget policy: an attack on wasteful spending, a call for the line-item veto, call for repeal of the Alternative Minimum Tax, which threatens to hit more upper-middle class families with a tax hike.

Of most interest to Michigan is what he says about economic transition.

Government's job is not, he said, to preserve jobs making "products and services we can't sell anymore," but to help those workers find new, stable employment.

"We have an unemployment insurance program straight out of the 1950s," he told the economic club.

"I'll work with Congress and the states to overhaul unemployment insurance and make it a program for retraining, relocating and assisting workers who have lost a job that's not coming back to find a job that won't go away."

Michigan's economic pain is clear, McCain said after the speech, and he's not writing off the Big 3 domestic automakers.

But he makes clear his belief that the state's economy must change.

"The reason we didn't keep making buggy whips and fedora hats is because things change," he said.

"I'm willing to do everything I can to help Detroit adjust."

That doesn't, however, include opposing higher fuel economy standards, which he has backed in the past.

Concern over global warming, concerns he agrees with, make higher-mileage cars a necessity, he said.

After the speech, he's surrounded by 100 or more admirers, reaching to shake his hand or snap a picture.

But there are also skeptics: Away from the crowd, club member Dick Ford sits with his wife and another couple, discussing the speech and declaring McCain politically cooked. "I don't think we'll have the opportunity to vote for him or against him," Ford said.

McCain said he's ignoring such talk.

"This will pass, this problem we've got," he said.

"We're going to be fine. Because I know I can out-campaign any of these other candidates."

You can reach Gordon Trowbridge at (202) 662-8738 or gtrowbridge@detnews.com.