Meet '08 contender John McCain ... again

His week-long tour stresses his family's military service – and why it makes him fit to be president.

from the April 2, 2008 edition

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In each town, McCain is doing a service event, as part of his regular theme of calling on people "to serve a cause bigger than themselves."

Part of why many senior Democratic players are itching to finish their own nomination battle is that they see major vulnerabilities in the McCain candidacy, and they're eager to start going after him.

"I'm a big believer, in terms of the Democratic approach now, that we really need to start drawing contrasts and also to seize on the pretty serious gaffes that he's making," says Democratic communications strategist Peter Fenn, referring first to McCain's comment about Sunnis and Shiites.

Some Republicans questioned the wisdom of McCain spending a week focusing on biography, especially in light of recent presidential elections, when the candidates with distinguished military records have lost to men with limited or no military background.

Columnist William Kristol suggested in The New York Times that "with recession on the horizon, three-quarters of the American public thinking the country's on the wrong track, and the president and Congress at historically low approval levels – shouldn't we be seeing more of McCain the domestic reformer?"

Dan Schnur, an aide on McCain's 2000 presidential campaign who has not been involved in the current effort, says initially he questioned the plan to spend a whole week looking back on biography, but then came around to the idea.

"At first I wondered whether a discussion of his biography could keep him in the news, given everything that's going on with the Clinton-Obama race," says Mr. Schnur. "But it's pretty clear that, given the media's interest in having a balance of coverage, it's provided an opportunity for him to get more attention for his biography than he normally would."

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