October 23, 2007
McCain Files In NH: "I'm Baaaack"
CONCORD -- John McCain has a message to New Hampshire voters -- "I'm baaaack."
That's what the Arizona senator wrote on the notice of elections poster as he filed for the first-in-the-nation primary in Concord 10/23. Eight years after he won the contest, McCain, vowed to do everything he could to preserve the primary tradition, adding that nomination process is "badly broken."
Last week in New Hampshire, McCain hit Mitt Romney on the question of who was a more reliable conservative. Today, he moved the debate to a question of experience, and he put his national security credentials up against the executive backgrounds his main rivals.
"I think it's great to have been mayor of a big city. I think it's great to have been governor of a state," McCain said. "I think it's important that I've been part of every national security issue since. ... My qualifications I think make me far more qualified. I'm not saying anyone's disqualified, I'm saying I'm more qualified."
Also back in New Hampshire after a hiatus was the "Straight Talk Express." On board, McCain expanded on his critique of Romney from Sunday night's debate, in which he said the former governor was trying to fool voters. "He spent about a year fooling people about his record, I'm not gonna let him fool people about my record," McCain explained. "That was a strong statement because a big part of my legitimacy is my consistent, conservative, reliable record. … He has changed his positions on virtually every issue."
McCain also noted that returning to file for the primary was "a little bit like a Twilight Zone episode." And he reaffirmed his commitment to waging a true New Hampshire campaign. "That's the only way I can win an election," he said. "In New Hampshire, people watch commercials and they all read signs, but they expect to see you at the town hall meeting. … They expect to question you, not listen to what you have to say."
After filing for the Granite State primary, McCain visited with workers at a local granite quarry. Joining him was state Rep. Dan Hughes, who had previously signed on to Fred Thompson's campaign in the state when he first came as a candidate in early September. Thompson hasn''t come back since, something that in part precipitated Hughes' decision to change.
"When we started out I was told that he would run a full-blown campaign up here. And it became obvious that they were not gonna do that, and they were running more of a token campaign, and I didn't want to be the token chairman of a token campaign," he said. "I want to campaign with the candidate who's going to fight to win." [MIKE MEMOLI]
Posted at 04:39 PM
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