Posted on: Sunday, November 7, 2004
McCain optimistic after election
 |
Election 2004 Get detailed results from the general election and read about the races and candidates in our Election 2004 special report. |
By Will Hoover
Advertiser Staff Writer
Sen. John McCain paused briefly to chat with the press shortly before having lunch with Gov. Linda Lingle, Lt. Gov. Duke Aiona and a small group of people at Washington Place early yesterday afternoon.
Special to The Advertiser Special to The Advertiser He also said Hawai'i's military establishment would continue to be of vital importance, particularly with regard to North Korea and Asia.
McCain arrived on Friday to film a one-minute introduction at the USS Missouri Memorial at Pearl Harbor for ABC's airing of "Saving Private Ryan" next week.
Last night he was scheduled to speak at a USS Bowfin Museum celebration to honor retired Admiral Lloyd "Joe" Vasey, a longtime friend of McCain's late father, Admiral John S. McCain Jr., former Commander in Chief of the Pacific Command in Hawai'i.
McCain began by saying he believes Bush and Sen. John Kerry ran good campaigns.
"I was very pleased, as I think all Americans were, to hear a gracious concession speech from Sen. Kerry and the president's commitment to reach out to Democrats on important issues," McCain said.
McCain said he had spoken with Kerry since his defeat on Nov. 2
"He's a friend of mine and he will remain a friend of mine," he said. "He will go back into the Senate and, I'm sure, be very active."
He said he thought the election was more about a Bush victory than a Kerry loss.
"The transcendent issue of this campaign was the war on terror," he said. "And when a lot of undecided voters went into the ballot booth on Nov. 2, they asked themselves, 'Who can best protect me and my family and our country in the next four years?'
"And I think it's clear that a majority of them came down on the side of President Bush."
McCain said categorically that he is not interested in a Cabinet position in the Bush administration. However, he was evasive about whether he might try another run for the presidency in 2008.
He quoted Morris Udall who ran for president in 1976.
"He (Udall) was a House member, and House members don't like senators very much," McCain said. "And he once said, 'If you're a U.S. senator, unless you're under indictment or detoxification, you automatically consider yourself a candidate for president.' "
McCain will be leaving Hawai'i today for Washington, D.C.
The Arizona senator offered thoughts on the recent presidential election and insights on what he thinks Americans can expect from the coming Bush administration. He stressed that President Bush would move to unify the country, and predicted the president would appoint Democrats to important Cabinet positions.
Dr. Harold Baumgarten and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz, videotape a commercial "bumper" at the Battleship Missouri Memorial at Pearl Harbor. McCain arrived in Hawai'i on Friday to tape the 60-second segment, which is scheduled to air during the national broadcast of "Saving Private Ryan" next week on ABC.
While touring the "Surrender Deck" at the Battleship Missouri Memorial, McCain points to a photo of his grandfather, WWII Admiral John Sidney McCain Sr., who was present as Japan's Instrument of Formal Surrender was signed on Sept. 2, 1945.
