Behind the McCain resurgence

Salena Zito:

Hands down, John McCain is the buzz in New Hampshire. After a political freefall in the summer, the man who swept Granite State Republicans and independents in 2000 has gone and done a Lazarus, resurrecting his presidential candidacy.

He did it the old-fashioned way: He earned it.

"Townhall meeting by townhall meeting, bus ride by bus ride, and endless phone calls to local talk show hosts, are what have put McCain back on the map in New Hampshire," says David Carney, a GOP political strategist not affiliated with any campaign.

One of those local radio talk show hosts, former Democrat candidate for governor Arnie Arnesen, agrees. "(D)espite many voters' disappointment with his dismal campaign ... the charisma, smarts and straight talk of McCain did not evaporate with voters over the last eight years."

More important, Arnesen says, no negative news has come out about McCain: "No illegals cutting his lawn, no clemency cases in Arkansas, no trophy wife, no Bernie Kerik or curious housemates who happen to be gay ... we know who he is, and with the war in Iraq taking second place to the new gorilla in the room, the economy, suddenly McCain becomes attractive again."

"Death spiral" and "death-watch" were all the talk of McCain in July. Fresh off an ugly and losing illegal-immigration battle, McCain's campaign imploded. Longtime adviser John Weaver exited, causing a domino effect that left McCain's campaign bare-boned and broke.

Most political soothsayers predicted he would never make the next filing deadline. Yet Weaver, who gave his first post-McCain interview in September, bucked conventional wisdom by predicting McCain would re-emerge in late December.

And he has, according to New Hampshire's polling average as of Friday. He's climbed to within 5.6 percentage points and is in second place behind Mitt Romney, who's been taking it on the chin in the Granite State's leading editorial pages.

Weaver's prediction was considered foolish. Today, he is a political Nostradamus.

"John has done a phenomenal job on his own," says Weaver. "You have to give him credit for it. He has run his campaign in New Hampshire on his back.

"John's re-emergence also has a lot to do with the times that we live in. Remember, we are a nation at war against an enemy that does not wear a uniform. You have to ask yourself, who has been prepared to lead us in this global struggle that we are in?"

...

Actually McCain does have a trophy wife. He has just had her long enough that their kids are grown now. She is not only beautiful, but rich. However, she is not an issue in this campaign.

What is helping McCain is that he was down so low that he was not worth a negative campaign commercial or hit job until recently. He earned that too with his stand on immigration coupled with the legacy of McCain-Feingold, and his vote against tax cuts. Because he was ignored for so long he was able to rebuild some support. His resurgence is not unlike the Huckabee surge which came after he was ignored for much of the campaign

It will be interesting to see if Rudy Giuliani has time for one of these moves.