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McCain needs to take the reins at GOP podium

BY TOM BRUNE | tom.brune@newsday.com; Reid J. Epstein

September 4, 2008

ST. PAUL, Minn. - When John McCain steps up to the podium tonight to accept the Republican nomination for president, he must make one thing clear: The "maverick" is back and it's his party now.

Eight years ago, McCain earned the reputation as a maverick when he bucked the establishment and unsuccessfully challenged the favorite of the party's leaders and the eventual winner, George W. Bush.

This time, McCain won the party's nomination after wooing the GOP establishment. But to win in the general election with Bush's low ratings and against a Democrat preaching change, McCain needs his maverick moniker now more than ever.

In about a half-hour he has tonight to pump up delegates in the hall here and to sell himself to voters tuning in across America, he must reintroduce the old John McCain - former POW, longtime senator and a politician who admirers say has "guts."

Or, as Long Island's Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford) put it: "John McCain just has to get out there and be himself."

In tonight's speech, he faces risks and opportunities, political analysts and pollsters said.

Inevitably, McCain will be compared with Democratic rival Barack Obama, whose gifted oratory and charisma drew 80,000 to Invesco Field in Denver a week ago.

McCain won't even try to compete, his top speechwriter Mark Salter told the news organization Politico.

He'll be himself, speaking in short, punchy sentences tailored to his style, and will practice his speech dozens of times, Salter said.

McCain will stress campaign themes: his longer and broader experience over Obama's thin resume; his pledge to cut taxes and Obama's tax hike; his international and security background over Obama's scant time on foreign policy; and his record as a bipartisan reformer.

"But more important than anything, he has to demonstrate that he understands the economic difficulties that voters are feeling in a personal way," said Dan Schnur, director of the University of Southern California's Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics.

Yet McCain must come across as presidential, and instill a sense that he and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, can win against the odds in a Democratic year.

Another challenge McCain faces: distractions.

A hurricane cut his convention short. And his speech tonight follows two attention-grabbing events: the season-opening NFL kickoff featuring the Super Bowl champion Giants, and Obama going toe-to-toe with Fox News' feisty host Bill O'Reilly.

McCain even faces the possibility he'll be upstaged by his running mate.

Recent news of her teen daughter's pregnancy and curiosity about the 44-year-old little-known Alaska governor, big-game hunter and former beauty queen could make her speech last night a bigger draw than McCain's address tonight.

With his speech, McCain's two key tasks are to unify the party and to position himself strategically for the fall election, said Martin Medhurst, a Baylor University professor of rhetoric and political science.

"He's already united the party by selecting the vice president," Medhurst said, noting the social conservative base has rallied around the anti-abortion, pro-gun Palin.

For the second task, Medhurst said, he must lay out a detailed speech to contrast with Obama, and he must appeal to independents, unhappy Hillary Rodham Clinton backers and Reagan Democrats.

To do that, McCain must distance himself from the unpopular Bush without alienating the GOP's faithful, said Bill Lacy, a Republican political strategist and director of the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas.

Lacy said McCain has shown how he'll do it: "reform." McCain tapped Palin largely for her reformist image. "The beauty of this," he said, "is that it separates him from the president without a direct criticism; it does so in a credible way and it sets up a nice contrast: reform vs. risky change."

But the ultimate goal of McCain's speech, Republican pollster Whit Ayres pointed out, is to "make a compelling case that he is ready to be president, and Obama is not."

TONIGHT'S MAIN SPEAKER JOHN McCAIN

Early life: Born in 1936 at a Navy base in the Panama Canal Zone, McCain moved many times before settling in Virginia, where he attended a private prep school.

Parents: His father, John S. McCain Jr., was a four-star admiral in the Navy. He died in 1981. His mother, Roberta McCain, is 96 and often appears at McCain's campaign rallies.

Education: Like his father and grandfather, he graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis.

Professional life: He retired from the Navy in 1981 and won an election for an open Congressional seat in 1982. After serving two terms, he was elected to the U.S. Senate, where he has been re-elected three times. He also ran for president in 2000, when he lost in the primary to George W. Bush.

Children: With his first wife, Carol Shepp McCain, he has a daughter, Sidney. He also adopted Shepp's two sons, Douglas and Andrew. With his wife Cindy McCain, he has a daughter, Meghan, sons, Jack and James, and a daughter, Bridget, adopted from Bangladesh.

- Reid J. Epstein