McCain's Volunteer Army
By Juliet Eilperin
MIAMI -- Just before Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) took the stage here tonight his state chairman Phil Handy -- beer in hand -- looked around in amazement.
"We didn't have a campaign here two weeks ago," he said. "It's unbelievable."
McCain's campaign did have paid staff here in the spring of 2007: They were laid off in May, when the senator's campaign appeared to be on the brink of collapse. They hired "a handful" of people after McCain's Jan. 19 win in South Carolina, Handy said, but they mainly relied on an "all-volunteer army" to propel their candidate to victory.
To a large extent McCain relied on Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, who boasts a formidable team. As soon as the governor endorsed McCain on Saturday night, according to the governor's spokeswoman Vivian Myrtetus, "We flipped the switch on the Crist machine."
Myrtetus, Crist's political director Arlene DiBenigno and members Crist's political strategy team focused their attention on the campaign. They reached out to grass-roots allies such as Pasco County GOP chairman Bill Bunting, a gun-rights advocate who endorsed McCain on Monday and e-mailed the news to 90,000 of his supporters. They contacted all of the governor's county chairs and co-chairs, helped run phone banks targeting South Florida, Tampa and Orlando, reached out to 24 Cuban American coalitions and put surrogates on Spanish-language radio in South Florida.
By primary day, Handy said, the McCain campaign boasted at least 1,000 volunteers. Through get-out-the-vote efforts and earned media coverage, he said, "we were able to show who he really was."
McCain, for his part, doesn't really indulge in lengthy discussions about campaign tactics. In an interview Friday on his Straight Talk Express, McCain said he was reluctant to hazard a guess at how he had managed to resuscitate his campaign, or what it would portend for his chances of winning the nomination.
"I'd love to tell you I know all the dynamics here. I really don't," he told reporters. "We all know my comeback story, but we also saw Governor Huckabee really pop up, and then we saw a certain recession there. We saw Guiliani with a consistent 20-point lead for months and months. Look, I'm just not smart enough to figure a lot of this out. My ego and oh, 'We were wonderful, and we did it, and we had it all planned out, and we knew exactly what was going to happen.' Well, that's bull."
His aides, however, said they were confident they could help orchestrate his nomination in the coming week now that they race had narrowed to two candidates. Romney's financial advantage will not be as enormous in the run-up to Super Tuesday, they said, because there are so many states at stake.
"We're going to be trying to communicate with as many people as you can, and the way you do that is through television," said McCain strategist Steve Schmidt, adding that when it comes to Romney's spending, "Even if he spends more on TV ads, it's not six months more of TV ads, which means there's a diminishing value of his dollars because the nature of the race changes after tonight. We're now in a national contest, and we're down to two candidates."
Posted at 10:34 PM ET on Jan 29, 2008
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Comments
Posted by: avagabond | January 30, 2008 11:06 AM | Report abuse
To the commenter who wrote that s/he supports McCain because they don't want to have to send their 13-year-old son to fight in the Middle East: Please wake up! John McCain WANTS to use warfare to gain control of Middle Eastern Oil. That is the plan of all the neoconservatives, which includes Hillary Clinton as well. Instead of spending half a trillion dollars in Iraq, what if we had invested that money in alternative energy research and development? Instead, the neocons are willing to have us pay any price in blood and treasure to cement their control and power over the entire world. Plans are being made now for a North American Union. This is NOT a conspiracy-do the research. Soon, perhaps after the dollar crashes enough, they will introduce the "Amero", our new currency. NAFTA has already resulted in our auto and textile industries going overseas. Our nation is 9.2 TRILLION dollars in debt. 100% of federal income tax revenues are used to pay the INTEREST on this huge debt. This enriches the banks and Wall Street at the expense of the average citizen. The Federal Reserve is a PRIVATE corporation which has control over our money supply. To lower interest rates, they simply create more money OUT OF THIN AIR. This is how we pay for the war - with debt. McCain will not be able to protect us from Jihadists if he drives us into financial ruin. But they who have CAUSED the radical Muslims to hate us though 50+ years of meddling in the middle east will play on our fears and tell us that only they can keep us safe. How safe will be be when our monetary system collapses, with China and Saudi Arabia buying our land and businesses? I have a 12 year old son and I will take him out of this country if McCain tries to draft him to fight in Iran. The only candidate who will truly uphold the Constitution and the principles of peace, prosperity and liberty is RON PAUL. Go to www.RonPaul2008.com.
Posted by: AnnInFL | January 30, 2008 10:46 AM | Report abuse
Well, for those of us that believe Islamic-Fascism is the #1 threat facing the United States today, there is no logical choice other than John McCain.
We MUST secure our nations access to vital natural resources in the middle east, not only for the security of our economy, but to combat Islamic Extremism also. The only person with the balls to see it through is McCain.
I have a 13 year old son whom I do not wish to send to the Middle East in 5 years because the country elected that fat ass "If you can be President, I can be President too " wench Hillary Clinton.
Obama is merely a pawn of the Democratic Kingmaker Kennedy Clan, and any other democrat who backs him. They will all call in their favors if Obama is elected.
That leaves McCain.
Posted by: ihateaol | January 30, 2008 10:12 AM | Report abuse
The MAC is baaaaaaack!
Posted by: awisegoose | January 30, 2008 9:50 AM | Report abuse
I'll be curious to see if McCain can really pull it off. With stats like this, I guess he still has a lot of work to do:
Super Tuesday Analysis -
The Republican Web Battle
Google Trend & Web Hits Reports
http://newsusa.myfeedportal.com/viewarticle.php?articleid=44
Posted by: davidmwe | January 30, 2008 8:33 AM | Report abuse
Well, well, what do we see ? All important liemericans together. Anything to explain about building 7 ladies and gentlemen ? Anything to say about using 9 barrels and finding only 1 new barrel ? Keepin up the good news then, cheerio. I whish PRESIDENT OBAMA a lot of wisdom.
Posted by: jwholtkamp | January 30, 2008 7:09 AM | Report abuse
Well, it will be McCain v. Obama, it seems.
One claims he is a dreamer and those "I have a deram" and "I have a draem" placards being held by Obama supporters on Corpus Christi TV, suggest that the dream need a program called 'No Adults Left Behind.'
The other is a proven Realist, who remained 5 1/2 years in captivity in North Vietnam. He was pulled out of a lake near Hanoi with two fractured arms and a fractured leg. Once on shore his shoulder was broken by a rifle butt and he was bayonet ted in the foot and the groin and then denied total medical treatment for 2 days.
The story of his bravery is in Wikipedia and of his ordeal by torture and refusals of early release is also there. McCain wants a renewed America also AND HE IS THE ONLY CREDIBLE CANDIDATE IN THE EYES OF AMERICA'S ADVERSARIES.
I like Obama, but this election goes way beyond who I like. It is about who is PROVEN and Osama is certainly not worried about Obama.
You can bet your a$$ that is not his view of McCain !!!
Posted by: brucerealtor | January 30, 2008 4:49 AM | Report abuse
I suggest "JohnJacobs99" get a brain transplant. The only difference between Senator McCain and Hilary Clinton is that Clinton wants to get out of Iraq? PLEASE!
Posted by: monellion | January 30, 2008 12:22 AM | Report abuse
McCain won by pulling a Bill Clinton -- Say anything, distort the other candidate's record, etc. Anything goes.
This straight talk-express is just politician spin. The liberals are just propping up McCain because he will be the easiest to beat in the election. The democrats will go after his willingness to stay in Iraq for 100 years and will bury him.
I have never voted for a Democrat but this may be the first year. The only difference between McCain and the Democrats is that the Democrats want to get out of Iraq.
Posted by: JohnJacobs99 | January 30, 2008 12:12 AM | Report abuse
The comments to this entry are closed.
My snide remark for the day -
What is Romney's business case for continuing to try to buy the White House now?
In head to head contest with McCain (Iowa, NH, Michigan, South Carolina, and now Florida) He beat McCain in two (Iowa where Huckabee beat both) and Michigan, which was home turf. Considering how much he has spent, how does he justify going 2 for 5? Should he ask Dan Snyder how to make mismangement of a franchise profitable so he at least gets some money back?
Ok, that was two snide comments. My apologies - it just sort of wrote itself.