Cindy and John McCain/Photo by Tim Hacker, Tribune

In the past, John McCain’s airport press conferences in Phoenix were loose affairs. No longer. They’re getting bigger and security is getting tighter. 

Previously, following weekend stopovers in Phoenix or at his ranch in Cornville, McCain spent a about a half hour doing a freewheeling Q&A with representatives members of the local media and the traveling national media alike before jetting off for another weekend of campaigning. 

The press conferences were simple enough – reporters simply walked into a large airplane hangar, found a spot among a row or two of folding chairs, and waited for McCain to emerge and take his place behind a podium. 

The actual Q&A session on Monday was unchanged, but the logistics had been given a wholesale security upgrade.  The location had been changed from a wide-open hangar to a more confined conference room. Furthermore, McCain’s public relations team asked reporters to show up earlier than usual and noted that access to the conference room would be restricted a half hour before its scheduled start. 

Long before McCain arrived, a police officer with an explosives-sniffing dog showed up. The officer instructed the dog to sniff every camera bag, every computer bag, every suitcase and every backpack in the room. For good measure, the dog also sniffed curtains, furniture, cabinets and artwork hanging on the wall. 

The dog, which was black and had a long droopy tongue, gave everything a thorough inhaling – no Bill Clinton style non-inhaling for that animal. The dog also stuck its head deep into every bag in the room. The officer apologized for the drool it left behind. 

Then, Secret Service agents ushered all the reporters and even McCain’s staffers out of the room. The agents wanded every person one by one with a portable metal detector before re-admitting them into the room.  The federal agents patted down or visually inspected everything that beeped, plus belt buckles, pocket buldges, waistlines and ankles.

They were friendly, polite and professional, which made the experience less uncomfortable than it might have been otherwise.

The security upgrades are just a sign of the times. If McCain wins the presidency, the security surrounding the most powerful man in the free world will increase even further.

For more on the press conference, which focused on the Republican candidate’s efforts to reach Hispanic voters and his plans regarding energy, check out today’s story in the Tribune. 

Cindy and John McCain/Photo by Tim Hacker, Tribune

John McCain spent a considerable portion of his press conference in Phoenix on Monday discussing his renewed efforts to reach out to Hispanic voters.

It was no coincidence that Monday is Cinco de Mayo, a Mexican holiday that commemorates the Battle of Puebla in 1862 when a small group of Mexican troops overcame overwhelming force during that country’s struggle for independence.

McCain announced the launch of a Spanish-language page on his campaign Web site. It can be accessed at http://espanol.johnmccain.com.

Then, as he did following his Super Tuesday victories on Feb. 5, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee declaired that he wasn’t overly worried about the reaction from the most conservative members of his own party.

“My party is the party of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan. My party is an inclusive party. My party reaches out to every citizen, every American who shares our views and our optimism and our belief in the principals of this great nation,” he said.

“I will seek the vote of every American. I will make sure we go to places where we might not get the majority of the votes. But the job that I have is to re-unite America and to make sure that people know that I will be the president of all the people, whether they vote for me or not,” he said.

“Americans are crying for us to work together. I notice that Sen. Obama and Sen. Clinton are touting their work in a bipartisan fashion. I will match my record for reaching across the aisle and working with the other party with them any day of the week. It’s far more extensive and far more substantive – and I’m proud of that work,” he said.

For more on McCain’s outreach to Hispanics and his plans pump up the campaign with discussion of energy issues, check out my story on the Tribune’s main Web site here.

John McCain

Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain would beat either of his Democratic opponents by fair margins in his home state, according to a statewide survey released Tuesday, April 29.

In a hypothetical head-to-head race against Sen. Barack Obama, the results were: McCain 47 percent, Obama 38 percent, and undecided 15 percent, according the poll conducted by Arizona State University/KAET-TV (Channel 8). That gives the home-state candidate a 9 percentage point edge.

In a head-to-head contest with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the results were: McCain 53 percent, Clinton 37 percent, and undecided 10 percent. That gives McCain an even more comfortable advantage of 16 percentage points.

The survey-takers probed further and identified the top reasons the respondents sided with their candidate. A sizable portion of the electorate apparently plans to vote against a particular candidate, rather than vote for a candidate.

For example, in the McCain-Obama race, the top three reasons voters said they were supporting McCain were: 1) They don’t like Obama, which turned up 22 percent of the time; 2) They always vote for the Republican candidate, at 20 percent; and, 3) McCain’s experience, 15 percent.

In the same McCain-Obama match-up, the top reasons respondents cited for favoring Obama were: 1) They always vote for the Democratic, which was important for 37 percent; 2) Obama’s message for hope and change, 16 percent; and, 3) They don’t like McCain, 14 percent.

In a McCain-Clinton race, the top reasons for supporting McCain were: 1) They don’t like Clinton, 45 percent; 2) They vote Republican, 18 percent; and, 3) They don’t like Bill Clinton and don’t want another Clinton in the White House, 8 percent.

Also in a McCain-Clinton race, the top reasons respondents told pollsters they selected Clinton were: 1) They vote Democrat, 31 percent; 2) Clinton will change President Bush’s policies and supporting working people, 15 percent; and tied for, 3) Clinton’s against the war in Iraq, and they like her stands on the issues, at 10 percent each.

Poll director Bruce Merrill said there are two reasons Obama did better than Clinton in the head-on-head contests with McCain.

“First, those who identify themselves as political independents divide their vote almost equally between Obama and McCain. Many independents are strongly opposed to the war in Iraq and they tend to oppose (McCain) on that issue,” Merrill said in a prepared statement.

“The second reason Obama does better than Clinton is that Arizonans simply have a strong dislike for Hillary Clinton, even though her husband won the state when he ran for reelection,” he said.

Well, some Arizonans have a strong dislike for her. Clinton beat Obama in Arizona’s Democratic presidential preference election 50.4 percent to 42.4 on Feb. 5, so she has her in-state support group as well.

Interestingly, age, gender and race appear to be only minor considerations for most voters, according to the survey. Or, perhaps, few people admit to pollsters that those factors are important to them.

Either way, among Obama supporters, just 4 percent said they supported him because he’s younger than McCain; while among Clinton supporters, the age issue didn’t register at all. Among McCain supporters, 3 percent said they supported him because he’s older than Obama. McCain supporters didn’t mention age when he was matched up against Clinton.

Regarding gender, 5 percent of Clinton’s followers cited her gender as their top reason to support her; while among McCain supporters, 2 percent cited Clinton’s gender as a reason to vote against her.

Race didn’t show up as a factor in any of the potential match-ups. The independent survey of 577 registered voters statewide was conducted between April 24 and 47. It has a margin of error of 4.0 percentage points, according to the pollsters.  

 While John McCain had strong support at his rally in Prescott on Saturday, there were some people in the crowd with different political agendas.

Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and Ron Paul supporters held signs and distributed literature about their candidates as well.

One particular Paul supporter was fairly entertaining. As a row of newspaper reporters typed madly at their computers at an outdoor table immediately after McCain’s speech, the Paul enthusiast kept walking back and forth in front of them carrying a Paul campaign sign. He kept saying, “Remember the revolution! Remember the revolution!”

According to Paul’s Web site, his, ahem, revolution persists. It says, “Dr. Paul is continuing his bid for the Republican nomination in order to spread the message of constitutional government and personal freedom, take the GOP back to its traditional roots, and continue the grassroots activism his candidacy inspired.”

So noted.

Meanwhile, El Mirage resident William Crum made the trip to Prescott specifically to oppose McCain. He held a hand-made sign that stated, “McCain = 100 Years of War With a Draft (Men and Women).”

Crum, a Vietnam veteran, said he differs with McCain’s approach to the war in Iraq.

“His opinion right now is basically stay the course,” Crum said. “You know what? We can’t afford that. Our country and our service guys can’t stay the course. I mean, why else would they be going back three, four, five times? That’s why I feel that if this war keeps going, we’re going to have to start a draft again, because where else are we going to get people? The reason I believe that we’re going to have to get men and women is because there are not enough men.”

I covered McCain’s speech in the Tribune and my story can be accessed here.

OK, and quick note on Paul’s puzzling campaign sign, in which the letters E, V, O and L within the word “revolution” are backwards and in red. If you read just the red letters backwards, it spells ”love.”

Trippy, man.

Also, if you play some of Paul’s campaign speeches backwards, it sounds like he says, “Number 9,” “I am the walrus” and “Coo-coo ca choo.” Really.

John and Cindy McCain

One of the best applause lines in Sen. John McCain’s speech in Prescott on Saturday was a reference to his wife Cindy.

“I was introduced to Arizona by my wife, Cindy, whose love for this place I soon shared. Guided by her superior judgment, to which I am always indebted…”

At that point, McCain had to pause for a moment while the women in the crowd of more than 500 cheered.

Then he continued, “… we made the decision to raise our children here.”

Before McCain took the podium, one of his warm-up speakers, Sen. Jon Kyl, elicited a fair laugh himself. Kyl’s task was to introduce Cindy McCain, who in turn introduced her husband.

Kyl quipped, “My friends, we know that Cindy McCain will be the best first lady of the United States. I won’t even mention the first bubba candidate.”

For more on McCain’s day in Prescott, read my story that appeared in the Tribune.

John McCain

Veteran campaign strategist Ned Barnett figures that John McCain is targeting two distinct audiences with his “Service to America” tour. The audiences: new voters and members of The Fourth Estate.

OK, no surprise concerning new voters. But, c’mon. The Fourth Estate? Isn’t McCain supposed to be a media darling? Isn’t he supposed to be every reporter’s best friend?

Barnett told me, “It’s not that they don’t know who he is, but they focus on, ‘OK, he’s the guy who did McCain-Feingold and he’s the guy who did McCain-Kennedy and he’s the guy who did these cross-over bills.’ So, they see him in action as what Obama has said what he would do in principal, but has never done in action, which is to cross over party lines and come up with bipartisan or coalition or compromise solutions to major problems and issues.”

So, if members of the media already know McCain in those terms, what exactly is McCain’s message for the press during his cross-country biographical tour this week?

Barnett explained, “He’s trying to say, ‘When you look at me, remember that Hillary is saying, “I’ve got more experience than Obama,” and her experience was eight years as first lady and she’s having to embellish what she did in Bosnia to even be taken seriously as having experience. So wait a minute. I have real experience. I had more experience in serving this country before Hillary was out of law school.’”

So McCain’s goal, according to Barnett, is to remind reporters that he’s not just a candidate defined by the issues of the day; he’s a candidate with a lifetime of experiences to prepare him for the job.

Hmmm… Well, as a member of McCain’s manipulated masses in the press, I’ll take that under advisement.

For more on McCain’s tour, which concludes in Arizona on Saturday, check out my story in the Tribune.

John McCain will launch the next phase of his presidential campaign with a cross-country tour starting Monday. The tour will mark his first work as the Republican nominee, rather than as a candidate for the Republican nomination.

The five-day biographical road show is being billed as his “Service to America Tour.” It features speeches in Mississippi, Virginia, Maryland, Florida and
Arizona.

The Arizona portion will be a speech from the steps of the Yavapai County Courthouse in
Prescott. It’s reminiscent of how McCain launched his first Senate campaign to succeed Barry Goldwater. The event is set for 10 a.m., Saturday, April 5.

John McCain

A surge of interest in the Democratic presidential candidates will present problems for Republican John McCain across the West, according to Democratic Party leaders from Arizona and other states who spoke in a teleconference Thursday.

They pointed to numbers that indicate Democrats have been turning out for their presidential primary elections in record numbers across the region, where the political landscape is changing. In Arizona for instance, 369,000 Democrats voted on Feb. 5, which marked a 130,000-voter increase from the previous record amount.

If all of that’s true, the big blue upheaval hasn’t exactly shown up in most polls across the eight-state Mountain West region.

Deep thinkers with the polling company Rasmussen Reports classify Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho and Montana “Safe Republican” states, at least for the presidential race. They catalogue Nevada and Colorado as “Toss Up” states, and New Mexico as a “Leans Democratic” state. For those keeping score at home, that’s five reds, two purples and one blue.

The Democrats in the teleconference offer a different assessment. They said Republican voters feel betrayed by McCain.

Arizona Democratic Party executive director Maria Weeg noted that McCain failed to win the GOP primaries in Montana, Wyoming, Nevada, Utah and Colorado. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney placed first in each of those. McCain finished second in Colorado and Utah, third in Montana, and fourth in Wyoming.

“McCain’s losses around the West speak volumes. I mean, they’re really resounding. If you look at what happened in the Mountain West, McCain only won one state – and it was his home state,” Weeg said.

McCain won Arizona’s GOP presidential preference election on Feb. 5 with 48 percent of the vote. He was followed by Romney at 34 percent and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee at 9 percent.

The U.S. senator from Arizona never opened a campaign headquarters in his home and hardly campaigned in Arizona, spending the bulk of his time before the Super Tuesday elections in other states, including New York and California, both of which he won.

The presidential primaries haven’t been conducted yet in the remaining Mountain West states. Idaho’s primaries are May 27 and New Mexico’s are June 3. Here’s a guess that McCain will win both GOP races.

The Democratic leaders did not respond to a question about whether they felt the state-by-state losses of their eventual presidential candidate foretold similar difficulties for either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton in those states. For example, Clinton beat Obama in Arizona. So if Obama ends up as the Democratic nominee, which seems likely, does his second-place finish in the state’s primary in February suggest that he doesn’t have a chance in the general election in November?

Paul Lindsay, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee, faulted the Democrats’ assessment of McCain’s chances in the West.

“By ignoring every recent poll showing Sen. McCain’s strength among independents, the (Democratic National Committee) is proving that their Western strategy is as far removed from reality as their candidates’ liberal policies are removed from the values of the region’s voters,” he said in a statement.

“John McCain’s Western roots and proven record on taxes, Second Amendment rights, and protecting our national security stand in stark contrast to the flawed vision of Obama and Clinton,” Lindsay said. 

McCain’s biggest problem is within his own party, Weeg said. Republicans simply don’t trust him.

“He’s not the Straight Talk Express that he might have been when he ran for Senate the first time. He’s now what we’re referring to as the Double-Talk Express. He’s changed his stance on almost everything to pander to the most extreme portions of his party,” she said.

The Democrats said McCain has been cozy with lobbyists and AWOL from his Senate job, plus he’s weak on the economy and wrong on the war in Iraq. According to their assessment, that’s enough to tip the election toward the eventual Democratic nominee in Arizona.

“I see Arizona as winnable for a number of reasons. The first and foremost is that I don’t think McCain is that popular here. He may once have been – I don’t know – but certainly 48 percent of the vote from his own primary voters does not bode well for him,” Weeg said.

McCain’s handling of immigration has demonstrated his failure to lead, she said.

McCain and other Republican senators, notably Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, joined with Democrats to forge a compromise border security and immigration reform bill that failed to advance last year. Some Democrats said the bill was too strict in regulating immigration into the country, while some Republicans charged that it was too forgiving in allowing millions of illegal immigrants already living in the country to obtain citizenship.

Since the bill failed, McCain has changed his stance on the issues, going from an all-at-once approach to a two-step approach. He said he believes lawmakers should deal with the border first; and deal with immigration reform second.

Weeg said immigration will be a huge issue for Arizona voters in November.

“We work with people who come across the border. We play with them. We are next to them. We are their neighbors. So this is really an issue in Arizona,” she said. “And McCain, who once sponsored legislation to come up with some practical solutions to this increasing problem, has given in to the extremists in his party in order to garner this nomination. He’s not coming up with any real solutions at all.”

The Democrats talk about conducting a 50-state campaign. The real measure of their sincerity will be to see if Obama or Clinton runs a bona fided campaign in the 48th state.

Arizona Corporation Commissioner Jeff Hatch-Miller formally ended his campaign for the Republican nomination in Arizona’s 5^th Congressional District on Monday. My initial post in this blog and an expanded story in the Tribune about his plans appeared last week. 

In a letter to friends and supporters that Hatch-Miller posted on his Web site, he expanded on the theme that his campaign lost a key staffer with the unexpected death of his friend Betsey Rodiles, a marathon runner who suffered a brain aneurism. Her death occurred just as Hatch-Miller planned to ramp up his campaign in the crowded Republican field.

“This unexpected loss is a stark reminder of how short, fragile and precious life can be. Anita and I will miss her greatly. Our hearts are broken for her husband and beautiful daughter,” Hatch-Miller wrote in the letter.

Furthermore, Dean Miller, his chief of staff at the ACC resigned in order to take a higher-paying position in the private sector. To make matters more difficult on that front, the ACC has a hiring freeze in place.

Hatch-Miller will be termed out of the ACC in January 2009, but he intends to remain involved in GOP politics. In the short term, he plans to take an active role in John McCain’s presidential campaign in Arizona and other states.

In future election cycles, he’ll consider running again for Congress, or perhaps for governor or secretary of state, a job that’s just a heartbeat, political appointment or indictment away from the governorship. “I’m pretty much addicted to running for office. Once I’m out of the commission, I’ll have tremendous freedom,” he told me.

The remaining GOP candidates in the 5th District race are state Rep. Mark Anderson, former state Rep. Laura Knaperek, former congressional aide Jim Ogsbury, and former Maricopa County treasurer Dave Schweikert. Former Scottsdale City Councilwoman Susan Bitter Smith also is considering a run.

The seat is held by first-term Democrat Harry Mitchell, who is seeking re-election. The district takes in Scottsdale, Tempe, Fountain Hills, Ahwatukee Foothills and west Mesa.

Last week I reported on this blog that Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who had campaigned for formal presidential candidate Mitt Romney of Massachusetts rather than the home-state candidate John McCain, was prepared to endorse McCain.

While Arpaio differed with McCain on some issues, particularly immigration reform, they agreed on enough that the sheriff was comfortable with the U.S. senator, Arpaio said.

Arpaio told me that he was just waiting for McCain or one his people to ask for his endorsement.

On Monday during an airport press briefing, McCain said he was unaware Arpaio was now a Friend of Mac.

When asked if he would invite Arpaio to campaign for him, McCain responded, “I don’t know what the terms and conditions are, or what he had to say, so I’ll have to examine it.”Apraio previously told me that he would endorse McCain, provided McCain allowed him to do some campaigning on his behalf. Arpaio said he wasn’t as interested in just lending his name to McCain’s campaign material.