With 24 hours to go before Super Tuesday, John McCain decided to go big, taking his campaign to the one state he has almost no chance of winning tomorrow--Massachusetts. In downtown Boston this morning, McCain spoke to a crowd of some 250 people in an historic building that might have been filled to a little more than half its capacity.
Cindy McCain warmed up the crowd recounting the adoption in Bangladesh of their youngest daughter Bridget, and then mentioned McCain's two sons, both in the service--the eldest an enlisted Marine serving in Iraq and the youngest a midshipman at the Naval Academy. "Duty, honor, country" are the themes of McCain's campaign she said. McCain's mother, Roberta, who will turn 96 next week, was also in attendance--she looks like she could be McCain's sister.
Also on stage were former Massachusetts governors Paul Cellucci and Jane Swift, Senators Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman, and Phil Gramm, whose centrality to the McCain campaign can't be overstated (McCain invokes Gramm constantly on the trail, and even mentioned him with bloggers in a recent discussion of possible running mates.) Lieberman did get a standing ovation from the audience.
McCain gave his regular stump speech--there was only one joke I hadn't heard ten times before: "Two inmates in a Massachusetts prison line up for lunch, one turns to the other and says 'You know, the food was a lot better when you were governor.'" That was a big hit. Then it was back to the Bridge to Nowhere, the economy ("I have specific proposals and we will be coming out with more specific proposals"), making the Bush tax cuts permanent, and more wasteful government spending. McCain talked about earmarks as an "evil," corrupting influence in Washington. And he assured the audience that he "will secure the borders of this country."
The event was fairly dull until McCain moved on to the war, chiding the Democrats for their lack of resolve. He called out Harry Reid: "The majority leader of the Senate said last April 'the war is lost.' It was lost? Who won? Al Qaeda?" And then he took a swipe at Obama and Hillary, saying "Our Democratic friends who are running for president continue to fall all over each other to see how quick they can withdraw from Iraq...I will set no date for surrender, I will set no date for withdrawal, I will not let al Qaeda tell the world they defeated America, I will not surrender, I will not wave the white flag. We are succeeding."
When it came time for questions, all anyone wanted to know was what is he doing in Boston? One reporter said Romney was "perturbed" that McCain was campaigning in Massachusetts today. McCain responded that he couldn't account for Romney's reaction, but that Romney was welcome to campaign in Arizona. When pressed on his bold prediction last week that he would seal the nomination on Tuesday, McCain backtracked-"I am not predicting that. I am not predicting that. I am guardedly confident that we can do well, but I am predicting nothing....we'll be campaigning all the way until the polls close tomorrow night, I don't think that's predicting victory." Well, yes, he is, but why in Massachusetts, which isn't a particularly tight race, instead of California, where some last minute stops might make a big difference?
One theory: McCain really doesn't like Romney, and as it became clear last week that McCain would almost certainly secure the nomination on Tuesday, this was to be a parting slap in the face. Except today, while McCain is still a heavy favorite, the result in California looks far from certain and there's a real possibility this race will continue past tomorrow's contest. It's hard to see how this was a smart move, but it was pure McCain--inspiring, audacious, and a bit reckless.
