A Night All About McCain, At Last

Bush Appears Via Satellite While McCain Relies On A Democrat To Make His Case

by Ronald Brownstein

Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2008


Close allies of John McCain praised his courage, conviction, and independence on a night when the McCain campaign signaled its determination to court centrist voters by providing a more visible speaking role to a former Democratic vice presidential nominee than to the outgoing president of its own party.

As the Republican convention returned to full speed after a one-day retrenchment for Hurricane Gustav, the McCain campaign scheduled President Bush just before the network television prime-time hour -- and reserved the coveted cleanup spot for Sen. Joe Lieberman, the independent Democrat from Connecticut, who went up against Bush as Al Gore's running mate in 2000.

That scheduling decision testified to the campaign's electoral priorities as clearly as the speeches from Lieberman and former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee praising the presumptive GOP nominee's commitment to working across party lines -- and his willingness to break with Republicans.

"It is very, very obvious if Republicans are going to win this election they have to not only energize their base but do far better among independents than we did in the 2006 election," said Republican pollster Whit Ayres. "And someone like Joe Lieberman [speaking] sends a loud and clear signal that John McCain is going to run a campaign and govern in a way that is open to people who are not Republicans."

Tuesday night's program focused much more on biography than ideology. Bush, Thompson, and Lieberman, the evening's three major speakers, each delivered appeals revolving around the core convention theme of "country first."

Bush, whose administration has banged elbows with McCain on issues from judicial appointments to detainee treatment, portrayed his rival from 2000 as "an independent man who thinks for himself." But the president, speaking from the White House on a huge screen in the Xcel Energy Center, also presented McCain as the successor to Bush's own vision on how to safeguard America in an age of global terrorism.

"We need a president who understands the lesson of September 11, 2001: that to protect America we must stay on the offense ... and not wait to be hit again," Bush said in strikingly brief speech. "The man we need is John McCain."

Thompson, a onetime rival for the 2008 nomination and a sometime actor, silenced the crowd as he dramatically recounted McCain's stark story of heroism as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. McCain, Thompson declared, has displayed "the kind of character that civilizations from the beginning of history have sought in their leaders." Later, Thompson brought the crowd to its feet with a biting denunciation of Democratic nominee Barack Obama "as the most liberal, most inexperienced nominee ever."

Though Thompson received a more enthusiastic response, the address from Lieberman most crystallized the evening's themes. He lost a Democratic primary for his Senate seat in 2006, largely over liberal discontent about his support for the Iraq war, but then won re-election as an independent and still caucuses with Senate Democrats.

In a message aimed squarely at independent and less partisan voters, Lieberman described McCain as a "restless reformer." He cited McCain's decision to refocus the first day of the GOP convention toward hurricane relief to argue that the senator from Arizona, as president, would elevate the national interest over partisan interest. "What you can expect from John McCain as president is precisely what he has done this week: put our country first," Lieberman declared. "That is the code by which he has lived his entire life, and that is the code that he will carry with him into the White House next January."

These testimonials to McCain's bipartisan instincts offered a remarkable coda to his political resurrection this year. During the GOP primaries, McCain's rivals criticized many of his highest-profile collaborations with Democrats, on issues from global warming to immigration to campaign finance. Yet on Tuesday, the key speakers raised those same alliances as a principal reason to elect him in November.

For the most part, delegates welcomed McCain's decision to stress his independence and to feature Lieberman. "John McCain is someone who can really appeal to Democrats, and Joe Lieberman can help us get that message across," said Sen. Christopher (Kit) Bond of Missouri.

Rep. Zach Wamp of Tennessee said that Lieberman's appearance was appropriate this year precisely because it was unusual. "Listen, this is the most unusual election cycle in my 51 years of life," Wamp said. "This is a change election. The very fact that he is here for his friend John McCain tonight speaks to what a reformer, maverick change agent he [McCain] is."

Veteran conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly was less enthusiastic about the appearance by Lieberman, who takes liberal positions on most social issues. She mostly expressed relief that McCain did not choose Lieberman as his running mate. "I don't think Republicans like him," Schlafly said, "but maybe they're so relieved that McCain didn't pick him for vice president that they will tolerate his speech."

Bush was preceded by first lady Laura Bush, who delivered an impassioned defense of his record on issues from education reform to national security. But his diminished profile reflected his eroded political standing since his triumphant renomination at the last GOP convention, in New York City. In a national Diageo/Hotline poll released on Tuesday, nearly two-thirds of voters said they disapproved of Bush's job performance -- and those voters preferred Obama over McCain by nearly 4-to-1. Linking McCain to Bush, particularly on the economy, was a central priority of Democrats during their national convention last week.

Overall, a series of national polls released since Monday showed Obama benefiting from a post-convention bump and opening up some of his widest leads yet over McCain. In the Diageo/Hotline survey, for instance, Obama stretched his advantage over McCain to 9 percentage points, compared with 4 in a survey completed just before the Democratic convention. On Tuesday, Obama's support reached 50 percent for the first time in the daily tracking poll conducted by the Gallup organization.

For the most part, the new surveys found, the barrage of attacks on McCain's record and priorities during the Democratic convention did not dent his overall favorability rating. And McCain continues to lead Obama when voters are asked who is better prepared to serve as president, particularly as commander in chief.

But polls did suggest that two major thrusts of the Democratic convention did draw some blood. The Gallup survey released on Monday found that the share of voters who said they were "very" concerned that McCain would follow Bush's policies increased from 41 percent before the convention to 47 percent after. Meanwhile, the Diageo/Hotline poll found a sharp decline in the share of independent voters who said that McCain is in touch with the problems of average Americans.

Ayres, like many GOP strategists, is confident that McCain can regain much of that lost ground this week. But with most surveys showing McCain already drawing at least 85 percent of Republican voters, he is more likely to close the gap with Obama only if he can recapture independents -- which helps explain why Tuesday's program provided a brighter spotlight for Lieberman than for Bush.

James A. Barnes, Brian Friel, Jessica Taylor, and Winter Casey contributed to this report.

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