McCain Promises to Fight on, Says Immigration on Back Burner

In his first national interview since the near-collapse of his presidential campaign, John McCain promised Monday to stay in the race at least until the first caucuses and primaries are over in the early part of 2008.

"I can promise you I will not be quitting," McCain said. "In September, when people get off vacation and star focusing on politics, I will get traction, then support, and then my fund raising increases a little bit."

In the first six months of this year, McCain raised only $24 million — and has spent virtually all of it.

"But I have now had conversations with almost all of my major fund-raisers, and they are steadfast and reinvigorated," McCain said. "I don't contemplate in any way a scenario where I will withdraw."

As to his backing of comprehensive immigration reform, which cost him considerable support within the Republican Party, McCain said: "I think the immigration issue is off the front burner. I lost, the other side won, it is over."

As to his support for the war in Iraq and the troop surge, McCain said: "The war in Iraq is not static. We will either see progress that will satisfy the American people or we will not."

Asked if a major drawdown of troops from Iraq by the end of the year would help his campaign, McCain said: "If we were withdrawing troops because we were succeeding, that would have one effect. If we were withdrawing troops because of total failure, that would have another effect."

As to the spending spree that his campaign has been on for the last six months, sources close to McCain confirmed that he was not aware of how much his campaign was spending and how little it was taking in.

When McCain learned earlier this year, he assembled his top aides and ordered them to slash the payroll and dramatically reduce spending.

But they balked, and McCain allowed himself to be talked out of it — a decision he now admits was a mistake.

"I have made other mistakes in my life and political career and I have fixed them, and that is what I am doing now," he said.

McCain's top aides told him that him that slashing spending was a mistake, because it would make him look like a loser and people would not give money to a losing campaign. They said he had to act like a big-time candidate, flying around the country on expensive chartered jets and paying large fees to fund-raisers who were costing the campaign more than they were raising.

It made no sense, and McCain knew it made no sense, but he gave in.

He ran in 2000 to change politics, but by 2007 politics had changed him.

I have debriefed dozens of presidential candidates after their campaigns are over, and they all say the same thing: They are trapped in the bubble, up in the plane cut off from the real world, or down on the ground making speeches and placing fund-raising calls.

After weeks and weeks of doing this, they don't know what is happening in their own campaigns, whom to trust, whom to believe. If they trust themselves, they are blamed for micromanaging. If they trust their staffs, they are blamed for not managing enough.

But up until his decision to keep spending beyond his means, you could say, at least, that McCain's problems were caused by McCain being true to what he believed in.

Although he was accused early on of pandering, in fact McCain's campaign has been much closer to political suicide than to political opportunism.

He could have moved to more muted, nuanced positions on both Iraq and immigration. Other presidential candidates have managed that act.

But McCain would not do it. It was, to him, a matter of principle.

In every town hall meeting he conducts, however, McCain includes the following line: "I believe spending is out of control. One reason we lost the last election is that Republicans were dispirited about our spending practices. We have to bring spending under control."

Fiscal responsibility is what McCain preaches, but runaway spending is what he practiced in his own campaign.

His problem was not that he burned through millions and millions of dollars. A number of candidates have done that.

But it is OK to burn through millions only if you have the capacity to raise millions more. McCain did not. The only thing that can give him a huge fund-raising boost this time is what gave him a huge fund-raising boost last time: an actual victory in a primary or two.

He said Monday that in the months ahead, he was going to emphasize climate change, cutting back on wasteful federal spending, the fight against "radical Islamic extremism" and military procurement reform.

"I have faced a lot tougher times than this in my life," he said. "I am going to get out the bus and do the town halls and work 24-7. I am confident I will do well. This is a day at the beach compared to some days I have had in my life."

To find out more about Roger Simon, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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