Updated at 7:57 a.m., Wednesday, April 25, 2007
McCain officially opens presidential campaign
Bloomberg News Service
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Speaking to a noontime crowd of about 800 people at a waterfront park in Portsmouth, N.H., McCain said the 2008 election "should be about big things, not small ones."
Foremost among these, he said, is the global war on terror. Without mentioning President Bush, McCain called for a new look at the U.S. strategy in the battle.
"We must rethink and rebuild the structure and mission of our military; the capabilities of our intelligence and law enforcement agencies; the purposes of our alliances; the reach and scope of our diplomacy; the capacity of all branches of government to defend us," the Arizona Republican said.
The rally in Portsmouth was the first in a series of public events marking four full days of campaigning that will take McCain from New Hampshire to South Carolina, Iowa and Nevada, the first four states holding contests for the Republican and Democratic presidential nominations.
New Hampshire was the site of McCain's biggest triumph in the 2000 Republican nomination race. The primary there is the first of the campaign and McCain bested Bush, then the Texas governor, by capturing 49 percent of the vote to Bush's 30 percent. His campaign faltered in South Carolina and Bush went on to win the nomination and the presidency.
EARLY FRONT-RUNNER IN SURVEYS FOR 2008 RACE
McCain, 70, was an early front-runner in public-opinion surveys for the 2008 race. He fell to third place among Republican candidates in a Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll this month. He trailed former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, 62, and actor and former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee, 64, who hasn't declared his candidacy.
He also is third among the Republican candidates in fundraising.
One reason McCain has fallen behind in polls may be his identification with Bush's Iraq policy. While McCain was a frequent critic of the administration's handling of the war, he has been unwavering in his support of Bush's plan to add more troops to the conflict and for keeping the U.S. involved there. Polls show the American public has grown weary of the war.
WAR CONCERNS ADDRESSED IN ANNOUNCEMENT SPEECH
In his announcement speech, McCain sought to confront the issue of the war and remind voters that he isn't an uncritical backer of the president's management of the conflict.
"We all know the war in Iraq has not gone well. We have made mistakes and we have paid grievously for them," he said. "But in the many mistakes we have made in this war, a few lessons have become clear."
Among those lessons, he said, was that the U.S. must never go to war "unless we are prepared to do everything necessary to succeed, unless we have a realistic and comprehensive plan for success," McCain said.
That was not done in Iraq, he said, "and we must never repeat that mistake again."
