John McCain, the Republican senator from Arizona and presidential candidate, returned to New Hampshire this past weekend. It was his first campaign swing since he officially declared his desire to become president of the United States.
In the 2000 New Hampshire primary, McCain trounced George W. Bush by nearly 20 points. He came back hoping to find that enthusiasm intact.
One of his stops was Exeter. That's the town that NHPR's Jon Greenberg is following in a series called Primary Place.
In our second installment, Jon tracked McCain's Exeter visit with a couple of undecided Republicans.
After John McCain's commanding win in 2000, there's really only one big question.
CUT Holly 1 I still really like him. I mean, last time I was totally committed to him. This time, I'm not sure if he's not too old.
Holly Tisdall. She and her husband Philip live in a Civil War era house a short walk from the Exeter town hall. It's Sunday afternoon, about an hour before McCain will speak there. Holly is a conservative Republican and right now for her, the choices are McCain and former Massachusetts governor, Mitt Romney. And as much as she dislikes it, if it comes down to a beauty contest between the two, Romney wins.
CUT Holly2 I really want us, as in the Republicans, to win the election. There's that whole, how you are on camera, that pizzazz stuff you have to have. Even though I don't think it matters, everyone else thinks it matters. So having seen him a lot in that last time where he had all the energy, I mean it was just unbelievable, I don't know if he still has it.
Holly's husband Philip is a pathologist at Exeter Hospital. He is less troubled by appearances. His concerns about McCain are more profound.
CUT Philip1 He has a very checkered voting record on money. So he's against tax cuts, well I don't think you can be a Republican and be against tax cuts. But none the less, he's been extremely good on balancing budgets and all that kind of stuff. There's no.. can't just check the box there. It's a very complex and nuanced discussion with him.
Philip did not back McCain seven years ago. He was one of only 311 Exeter voters who went for Steve Forbes, the man with the flat tax plan. Philip certainly didn't vote for George W. Bush who he says has gutted the Republican party.
CUT Philip2A He got us into a foreign war and couldn't admit it was wrong. He's increased the size and scope of the federal government probably unmatched since Lyndon B. Johnson. We never realized, my wife and I, this split in the party, till we realized we couldn't rationally discuss Bush together.
The question of Iraq is paramount for most voters, but in the Tisdall house, the question is even more acute because they have two sons in the military. Philip firmly believes that all the options for the U-S in Iraq are bad ones.
CUT Door
It's time to go see John McCain. We pick our way along the icy sidewalks, past the campus of the Philips Exeter Academy and the Baptist Church and in a few minutes are at the steps of the classic mid-19th century town hall.
CUT Townhall1 Thanks for coming this afternoon. Welcome sir. Thanks for coming//My pleasure// Watch yourself on that step there...
Older men wearing John McCain baseball hats greet a steady stream of visitors. The only price of admission is a card with your address and phone number.
Inside, the room is packed. People fill the big open floor, people fill the balcony that wraps around three sides. Philip sees some familiar faces up on the stage.
CUT TH3 If we went to a Dem rally, we would know as many at the rally there as we would here. It's a small town.
And Philip tells me something about his wife that didn't come up earlier.
CUT Philip5 They are trying to recruit her to as Republican town chair for his campaign. This is a really big meeting for her.
CUT applause
CUT Thank you, it's wonderful to be back here. Thank you for a wonderful, wonderful welcome.
McCain takes the stage and ambles comfortably back and forth holding a mic. He jokes about the end of his last primary bid.
CUT After I lost the South Carolina primary, I slept like a baby. Sleep two hours, wake up and cry; sleep two hours, wake up and cry.
He tells the crowd that global warming caused by humans is real.
CUT Now does that mean we have to shut down America. Does that mean we have to make huge sacrifices? No! But it does mean we need to address the issue.
He gets the biggest applause of the day when he talks about punishing employers who hire illegal immigrants. But for the Tisdalls, the key moment came when a man in his 60's took the mic.
CUT As a Vietnam vet who served in the Marine Corps in '66 and '67, and a father of a young Army Lieutenant who died at age 23 by sniper in Iraq, I have a very simple request for you. Let's get Iraq in the win column and be done with this successfully and protect our nation's borders for good. Thank you / applause
During the applause, McCain turned away and looked down. When he turned back, he replied.
CUT Thank you sir. I cannot offer you anything except my humility for your service and your son's sacrifice. And I promise that I'll do everything that I can.
CUT Holly3A More than anyone I've heard or anything I've seen about Iraq probably in the last two years, that made me feel - the way he was up there -- something about it gave me a lot of confidence in him and that issue.
Back home, after the event, Holly felt McCain had given her what she is looking for on Iraq. She did not see the same candidate she supported seven years ago, but the difference between then and now struck her as -- right.
CUT Holly4 at that point, he was great because he was different, I guess. Now I think his, the good part about his campaign, is he's serious and we need a serious person and he's experienced.
For Holly, McCain's age has turned into an asset, not a deficit.
McCain's answer was also the highlight for Philip, but paradoxically, he took little comfort in it. For him, US policy in Iraq is like one of those pieces of diseased tissue that he spends his day analyzing as a pathologist. No matter how he cuts it, it is still diseased. And as he analyzed the situation with Holly, his tone became sharp.
CUT Philip Holly1 There's no winning. We're just there forever, that's all. Will you live with that? Alex is going a year from now. Kids a year ahead of Alex know that they will be in Baghdad by Christmas. That's OK with you?// No. But I trust// So what are you going to do then?// Well, I personally can't do anything. I have to pick a leader that will do something // Well, this leader's sending them? Will you live with that?// Will you?// No. // So you won't vote for him then?// I said there are no good choices.
For Philip, of all the bad choices, the worst one would be for the US to pull out of Iraq. And in that context, he found something admirable in the way McCain responded to the Vietnam Vet who had lost a son.
CUT Philip6 If you ask me why I'll live with his bad choice? Because I think we have only bad choices. And I don't know the right one. Nor does he. But this is his pick. And if it goes wrong, he's not going to say, if I manipulate the news and try to pretend I didn't do this and blah, blah, blah. I don't think he'll do that. I don't think he'll play personal politics with my kid's life.
At the end of the day, with Holly and Philip, McCain helped his cause. Philip sees the Arizona senator as the best of the current contenders. Holly likes him too, but she's not ready to join his campaign. Not yet. She says if the media and popular sentiment paint McCain as old and lacking energy, and if her other Republican choice, Mitt Romney, begins to shine as the embodiment of new ideas for the Republican party, she would back Romney.
Because she wants to win.
For NHPR News, I'm Jon Greenberg.
