McCain Persists Despite Trouble

Senator Promises Strong Comeback

CONCORD, N.H., July 13 -- Sen. John McCain of Arizona vowed Friday not to let a dramatic staff shake-up or a shortage of funds deter his bid for the Republican presidential nomination, and he signaled no slackening in his support for the troop surge strategy in Iraq, accusing his Democratic rivals of defeatism in calling for an early withdrawal of troops.

Appearing outside Washington for the first time since accepting the resignations of two of his most senior advisers over the management and direction of his struggling campaign, McCain brushed aside questions about his ability to compete for the nomination. He promised a return to the style and techniques he used to win this state's primary eight years ago.

The campaign's mounting problems have raised doubts about whether McCain can survive in the crowded but still-wide-open Republican nomination contest. Asked Friday if he could foresee any circumstances under which he would not still be a candidate by the time of the primary here next January, the former Vietnam prisoner of war replied, "Contracting a fatal disease."

McCain said he accepted responsibility for the campaign's problems, which include burning through virtually all of the $24 million raised in the first six months of the year. But he said the formula for winning the nomination has not changed. "We go to the town hall meetings, we fix our financial difficulties, and we win," he said. "I'm very confident."

McCain's campaign was in deep trouble before news broke Tuesday that campaign manager Terry Nelson and chief strategist John Weaver, one of the senator's closest confidantes, had submitted their resignations after a series of confrontations with the candidate over the management of the campaign. McCain then installed Rick Davis as his new campaign manager, a role Davis played eight years ago.

Once seen as the front-runner for the nomination, McCain now faces enormous obstacles against former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, who have significantly more money in the bank than McCain, as well as former senator Fred D. Thompson of Tennessee, expected to join the race this year.

McCain conceded that he has contributed to his own problems, noting that his position favoring comprehensive revision of the nation's immigration laws cost him considerable support among his party's conservative base and that his support for the war has hurt him among independents, who were among his strongest constituencies in 2000.

But he said neither is likely to be as much of a problem in the future. "The immigration issue is largely resolved," he said, a reference to the bill's defeat in the Senate. "It's not going to be on the front burner. And on the war on Iraq, we're either going to show some success or we're going to be forced out. Everybody knows that."

McCain made clear that, although he believes the surge strategy should be given more time to succeed, he is losing patience with the Iraqi government and with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

"We see little evidence of reconciliation and little progress toward meeting the benchmarks laid out by the president," he said.

McCain appeared down as he left his hotel Friday morning for an interview on New Hampshire public radio. At his luncheon address and in a news conference afterward, he was more energetic in addressing his campaign's problems.

His campaign faces continuing upheaval, with speculation that other officials may depart in the wake of the resignations on Tuesday.

McCain used his prepared speech, which was a report on his findings after his most recent trip to Iraq, to attack Democratic rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) by name. Citing a newspaper op-ed she wrote with Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.), McCain derided Clinton for never mentioning al-Qaeda and the terrorist presence in Iraq.

He also criticized Democrats for their belief that the war cannot be won. "Defeatism will not buy peace in our time," he said. "It will only lead to more bloodshed and to more American casualties in the future."

He said voters will be asked to decide in 2008 how the war will be fought, if at all. "I have told you how I intend to fight this war," he said. "Other candidates will argue for a different course. Democratic candidates for president will argue for the course of cutting our losses and withdrawing from the threat in the vain hope it will not follow us here. I cannot join them in such wishful and very dangerous thinking."

McCain's son Jimmy, a Marine who finished boot camp in December and is expected to deploy to Iraq soon, accompanied him on the visit. That was a departure for the candidate, who has been adamant in his refusal to discuss the 19-year-old's potential service in Iraq publicly, or invoke his son in explanations of his stance on the war.

McCain has rarely mentioned his son's military experience publicly. A year ago, the senator tried to kill a Time magazine story in which he said, "I'm obviously very proud of my son, but also understandably a little nervous." In December, McCain refused to be interviewed for a Washington Post story about his family's military experience.