Sen. John McCain and his wife, Cindy, exit an airplane in Nashville, Tenn., Saturday as part of their campaigning for Super Tuesday elections (Associated Press as posted at MSNBC)
Sen. John McCain returned to his home state this afternoon saying he’s “guardedly optimistic” about his chances in the Super Tuesday primaries and caucuses, but “superstitious” about making any predictions.
McCain landed at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport shortly before 5 p.m. in a chartered JetBlue airplane, making his first formal visit to Arizona since the party nomination campaign season kicked off with the Iowa caucuses.
He came down the stairs with his wife, Cindy, at his side and was trailed by several notable politicians who had campaigned with McCain in California including Sens. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., and Joe Liberman, I-Conn., and Florida Gov. Charlie Crist.
McCain’s staff had parked one of the dark blue “Straight Talk Express” travel buses inside the charter airplane hanger as a backdrop for a brief press conference for local media and national reporters traveling with the senator.
The microphone that McCain used was strictly for broadcast recording. McCain spoke so softly that print and Web reporters relying on their own ears or open-air recorders kept creeping closer to pick up his words.
They didn’t miss much. McCain gave the same prepared answer to repeated questions about a sudden conservative backlash in recent days, concentrated most heavily among news talk radio hosts.
“I have a strong conservative voting record and I’m pleased to have the support of people like Jack Kemp and Steve Forbes,” McCain said.
When pressed further about the verbal pounding that McCain has received from conservative talk luminaries such as Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, McCain said he has a few broadcast opinion makers in his corner such as Bill O’Reilly and Bill Bennett.
After only 5 minutes, McCain ended the news conference and moved into the bus, although he was expected to ride in a regular, 4-door sedan to his election night party at the historic Arizona Biltmore Resort and Spa.
But before he left, McCain did offer one thought about his chances with hometown Republicans.
Arizona is one for the 24 states involved in the Super Tuesday elections, and a variety of media have pointed out in recent days that a large segment of GOP activists really don’t like the senator. That mirrors the angst reflected among many conservatives across the country who had assumed McCain wouldn’t make it this far much after his campaign collapse last summer, much less that he would be the perceived frontrunner going into Super Tuesday.
But history has shown a majority of local Republicans are willing to support McCain despite the political with many conservative activitists. “I think I’ll do OK in Arizona,” McCain said with a tight smile.
Catch all of the latest results from Super Tuesday at www.eastvalleytribune.com.
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