McCain's resilience resonates amid Democrats' uncertainty

— -- John McCain relied on grit, hard work and a whole lot of luck to win the 2008 Republican presidential nomination.

He probably will require all that and more in what is expected to be a raucous ride toward the White House.

The senator from Arizona is trailing in the money chase, following an unpopular GOP president and promising to push to victory in an unpopular war. And, at age 71, McCain must convince the American public that he's not too old for the job.

But the protracted slugfest between Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois may prompt a re-evaluation of conventional wisdom on the general election.

"From the perspective of March, McCain is fairly called the underdog despite the Democrats' continued brawl," said Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. "Everything has to go right for him to win."

Eight months ago, McCain's political aspirations seemed at their end.

His once-impressive national organization collapsed in spectacular fashion. He couldn't raise enough cash to keep pace with his campaign's lavish spending. His campaign manager and his longtime political strategist left. Several other senior staffers followed.

Despite a grim diagnosis from political experts and ridicule from late-night comedians, McCain refused to quit.

Abandoned by much of the national media, he returned to New Hampshire, a state where he clobbered George W. Bush during his first presidential campaign in 2000. By Labor Day, McCain was ready to start his slow ascent to the front of what many viewed as a weak Republican pack.

"First of all, he was the best candidate, and he was the best campaigner," said Charlie Black, a senior McCain adviser whose campaign role expanded after the big exodus. "He had to have the willpower and the determination and had to believe that he could still win to keep working as hard as he did."

Other pieces began falling neatly into place.

The troop surge McCain championed reduced public anxiety about the Iraq war.

Once the primary season started, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson drew many GOP votes from Mitt Romney, the multimillionaire former Massachusetts governor who ultimately was McCain's chief threat. Romney reeled from a disappointing second-place finish behind Huckabee in the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses.

McCain handed Romney another devastating loss five days later in New Hampshire's primary and followed it with wins in South Carolina and Florida, setting the stage for his routing of Romney in last month's Super Tuesday contests.

"In the end, that organization that had hung around New Hampshire for eight years really paid off," Black said. "Romney outspent us something like 10-to-1 up there."

So grateful is McCain to New Hampshire that he returns there Wednesday to say thanks and host his first town hall meeting of the general-election season.

"The best thing that happened to him was running out of money and dumping his staff," said John Zogby, a national pollster based in New York. "It freed him to be himself again."

To his Democratic foes, McCain offers nothing but the rehashed "failed policies" of Bush and is ill equipped to right a faltering economy or tackle the mortgage crisis.

"His faux maverick image aside, he's just another Washington insider who doesn't really understand what working families are dealing with," said Damien LaVera, a Democratic National Committee spokesman. Linking McCain to Bush is key to the Democratic strategy. Bush's endorsement of McCain on Wednesday provided fresh fodder.

"To us, that's a good synopsis of what John McCain is all about," LaVera said. "He finishes locking up the nomination and what's the first thing he does the day after? Does he go talk to voters? He goes to the White House to talk to President Bush."

Zogby, the pollster, said Democrats should proceed cautiously in their criticism of McCain because of his high likeability factor and war hero status.

Bush himself addressed the idea that he might hurt this year's GOP prospects.

"They're going to be voting for the next person to come in here and make the tough decisions about America — America's security, America's prosperity, and, you know, America's hopefulness," Bush said during his joint appearance with McCain in the White House Rose Garden. "That's what this race is about, and it's not about me. You know, I've done my bit."

McCain's refusal to give up in the summer provides some insight into the candidate, Sabato said.

"It says that he's resilient, and you always want a president to be resilient," Sabato said. "Clinton has just proven she's resilient (by winning the popular vote in three states Tuesday). Obama proved that he was resilient after losing New Hampshire."