Last week’s “Service to America” Tour took presumptive Republican Presidential nominee John McCain to the definitional places of his life – Meridian, Mississippi, Arlington, Virginia, the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, Jacksonville, Florida, and the place of John McCain’s political baptism, Prescott, Arizona.  His lieutenants colloquially called it the ‘Biography Tour’. His detractors called it a desperate cry for attention amid the continued Democratic infighting.  But it was, at its most fundamental, a reiteration of the central tenet that is John McCain: a commitment to national service that flies in the face of the generation’s popular culture.

While liberal radio host Ed Shultz labeled Sen. McCain a “warmonger” in an introduction of Senator Obama on Saturday, McCain stood on the Yavapai County Courthouse steps in Prescott, Arizona, to praise bipartisanship and commitment to duty, regardless of the popular culture.  “Let us exercise our responsibilities as free people. But let us remember, we are not enemies. We are compatriots defending ourselves from a real enemy. We have nothing to fear from each other. We are arguing over the means to better secure our freedom, promote the general welfare, and defend our ideals. It should remain an argument among friends; each of us struggling to hear our conscience, heed its demands; each of us, despite our differences, united in our great cause, and respectful of the goodness in each other” (Remarks by John McCain During “Service to America” Tour Event in Prescott, Arizona, Saturday, April 5th, 2008).  It is vintage McCain – dogged in his dedication to principle while “popular culture” opinions manifest themselves, like in the form of Shultz.

Most surprising was the non-reaction of Senator Barack Obama, whose juggernaut seems to be ever-so-slightly edging toward the Democratic nomination.  For a man who so often pays lip service to the high ideals touted by McCain, Obama’s lack of condemnation showed what truly was a new kind of audacity - what some will call the audacity of hypocrisy, if you will. 

John McCain has lived his life in defiance of the popular culture of his generation. While his peers staged sit-ins and marched on Washington, McCain flew combat missions over Vietnam. Back home, the Sexual Revolution, Woodstock, and 1968 made their marks on American history while John McCain endured the torture and hardship of the “Hanoi Hilton”.  While many in the Republican Party went with George W. Bush in 2000, it was McCain who stood up in opposition.  Indeed, only when he truly bent to popular opinion, on the South Carolina/Confederate Flag issue, did his electoral success fade.  Many Americans have tired of the shrill voices in politics - and as he has always been, McCain seems ready to stand in defiance to them.

John McCain’s Remarks As Prepared For Delivery

Mississippi State University

Meridian, Mississippi

March 31, 2008

Thank you. It’s good to be back in Meridian. As you might know, I was once a flight instructor here at the air field named for my grandfather during my long past and misspent youth. And it’s always good to be in Mississippi, which you could call my ancestral home. Generations of McCains were born and raised in Carroll County, on land that had been in our family since 1848. The last McCain to live on the property, which the family called Teoc, was my grandfather’s brother, Joe McCain. I spent a couple summers here as a young boy, and enjoyed it immensely. I had never had a permanent address because my father’s naval career required us to move frequently. But here, in the care of my very likeable Uncle Joe, I could imagine, with a little envy, what it must have been like for the McCains who came before me to be so connected to one place; to be part of a community and a landscape as well as a family.

By all accounts, the McCains of Carroll County were devoted to one another and their traditions; a lively, proud and happy family on the Mississippi Delta. Yet, many McCains left here as young men to pursue careers in what has long been our family’s chosen profession – the United States Armed Forces. My great-grandfather was the sheriff and never left. But his brother, Henry Pinkney McCain, was a major general in the Army, and organized the draft in World War One. Camp McCain in Grenada, Mississippi is named for him. My great uncle, William McCain, was known as “Wild Bill” for his “dynamic” personality – he was reputed to have ridden his horse onto his future father-in-law’s porch to ask him for his daughter’s hand. He chased Pancho Villa with General Pershing, was an artillery officer in World War One, and retired a Brigadier General. Both men are buried at Arlington National Cemetery, as are my father and grandfather. We trace my family’s martial heritage back to the Revolution. A distant ancestor served on General Washington’s staff, and it seems my ancestors fought in most wars in our nation’s history. All were soldiers – both Henry and Bill McCain were West Pointers – until my grandfather broke family tradition and entered the Naval Academy in 1902. He was succeeded there by my father, then me, and then my son.

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The White House has a bowling alley, first installed at the direction of President Harry Truman, before it was moved and then re-crafted by President Nixon.

This information should be of great dismay to Presidential candidate Barack Obama, who bowled a 37 over the weekend during a campaign stint in Altoona, Pennsylvania.  Check out the video on WFSB.

. . . Turns out its over.

So says The Politico:

One big fact has largely been lost in the recent coverage of the Democratic presidential race: Hillary Rodham Clinton has virtually no chance of winning.

I’m glad we’ve resolved that little issue.  Check out the article though - it’s a good read.

Here is a fun activity: compare this map, which reflects current state-by-state polling in a hypothetical matchup between Arizona Senator John McCain and New York Senator Hillary Clinton, to this one for McCain/Obama.

Also worthy of note, we’ve updated our General 2008 Election Map to reflect the “solid states”, those that are deep blue or bright red - Wyoming and Alabama (plus McCain’s home state of Arizona) are red, and Washington D.C., Illinois, and California are deep blue.  We’ll be updating this map further once the Democrats have a nominee and more state-by-state polling can occur.

Presumptive nominee Sen. John McCain is travelling the globe this week with Sen. Lindsey Graham and Sen. Joe Lieberman.  Yesterday, the trio went to Iraq to get an “on the ground” look at how things are going there.  McCain met with General Petreaus and Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki.

Today, they were in Jordan before heading to Jerusalem.  It appears that our own Senator Lieberman is doing a great deal to help McCain on the journey:

Later Tuesday, McCain received a celebrity welcome in Jerusalem, beginning a two-day visit to Israel with a stop at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial. As his motorcade pulled up dozens of tourists greeted him and chanted “Mac is back,” as he shook their hands and posed for photographs.During his 90-minute visit at the memorial and museum, McCain was visibly moved, his eyes welling with tears as he viewed photographs from Nazi death camps.

Wearing a skullcap placed on his head by Lieberman, McCain laid a wreath in memory of the 6 million Jewish Holocaust victims and lit a memorial flame. Signing the Yad Vashem visitors’ book he wrote: “I am deeply moved. Never again. John McCain.”

Arizona Senator John McCain and his cohorts are planning to make the November 2008 Electoral Map look far different from 2000 or 2004.  So says crack Politico reporter Jonathan Martin:

Such a list starts here, in famously flinty New Hampshire, one of only three states to switch allegiance in presidential voting between 2000 and 2004. But it could also include Maine, which has elected an independent governor and which gave Ross Perot his highest vote share in 1992. Connecticut would be tougher but has also elected two third-party candidates to statewide office (Lowell Weicker and Joseph I. Lieberman).

With many Connecticut Republicans considering the impending McCain candidacy, there seems to be a growing belief that the maverick from Arizona could certainly make Connecticut a swing state in the general election. We look forward to it being so.