McCain is in position for political comeback

With Florida’s 57
delegates, John McCain
now has a total of 93.

MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

WASHINGTON — John McCain emerged from Florida on Tuesday as the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, now poised to complete a remarkable comeback just months after being written off as politically dead.

The Arizona senator still faces competition from former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, and their clash could remain bitter, with Romney ready to write more personal checks to keep the campaign going. A wing of the party that loathes McCain could rally to Romney as the last best chance to stop their maverick nemesis.

But McCain’s victory in Florida’s primary Tuesday firmly established him as the favorite headed into a 21-state, coast-to-coast showdown on Feb. 5 and to go on to win the party nod.

McCain took the lead for the first time in delegates needed to win the nomination at next summer’s Republican National Convention. With all of Florida’s 57 delegates, McCain had 93, Romney had 59 and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee had 40.

But McCain’s real edge is how he stands headed into the contests next Tuesday when more than 1,000 delegates will be awarded, many of them in winner-take-all states. Winning many of those states would put a candidate well on the way to the 1,191 delegates needed to win the nomination.

He can claim the advantage thanks to several factors made clear in Florida:

UHis strong appeal to security-minded voters;

UHis ability to blunt Romney’s pitch on pocketbook concerns; they split economy voters;

UA calendar of big states where McCain already has the advantage;

UThe defeat of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and likely McCain edge winning over his supporters. Giuliani was preparing to drop out and endorse McCain today, according to several reports.

Giuliani, who once led in national polls and raised top-tier cash, bet it all on an unusual strategy that amounted to retreat. He pulled back from competition in Iowa, then in New Hampshire, then in South Carolina.

But while he camped out in sunny Florida, his rivals grabbed not only delegates but headlines in the first contests. Starved of victories, his money dried up. Starved of headlines, he had no free media coverage to compensate, and his political support dried up.

All of it comes just months after McCain appeared to be finished, his second shot at the presidency slipping from his grasp.

His support in polls dropped, his fundraising was abysmal, and he had to lay off much of his campaign staff.

But he came back, thanks in large part to the apparent military success of the surge of additional troops to Iraq, something he had pushed at political risk when the Bush administration and Republican boosters on talk radio worked hard to stifle such dissent.

Romney tried to take advantage of the rising concerns about the economy, pitching his background as a business executive and reminding voters that McCain more than once has told reporters he doesn’t understand the economy as well as he does foreign policy.

McCain played hard to security-minded voters, his strength. But he also stressed his newfound commitment to the Bush tax cuts (he opposed them in Congress) and to curbing spending as his answer to economic woes.

The economy dominated the Florida vote — named by four out of 10 as their top concern in exit polls — and economy voters split almost evenly between McCain and Romney.