McCain Sits in Campaign's Catbird Seat as Democrats Bicker

Republican presidential candidate John McCain (R-Ariz.) talks to reporters aboard his campaign plane in flight from Atlanta to New Orleans. (By Gerald Herbert -- Associated Press)

Black and other aides are also determined to start crafting McCain's public image. They released a two-minute, online ad Friday called "Man in the Arena," which compares McCain to former British prime minister Winston Churchill and former president Theodore Roosevelt, focusing on McCain's military service and his support for the Iraq war.

"Keep that faith. Keep your courage. Stick together. Stay strong. Do not yield. Do not flinch. Stand up," a fiery McCain says in the ad. "We're Americans. We're Americans, and we'll never surrender. They will."

Free to leave the country without worrying about incoming fire from a Democratic nominee, McCain will travel this month on a 10-day trip to Europe, and possibly to Iraq, as part of a congressional delegation. He and other senators will meet with foreign leaders, according to top-level aides familiar with the travel plans.

Aides say he would have taken the trip even if he had lost the nomination battle. But they say the image of a globetrotting McCain, holding news conferences in world capitals, is the perfect way to assert his claim of having more experience in foreign policy.

"When you are standing on the world stage with significant international leaders, and the Democrats are throwing deck chairs at each other, there is a dichotomy to the race that works in our favor -- particularly when the Democrats are having a fight over preparedness, experience and readiness," said one top aide, who requested anonymity because the trip has not been publicly announced.

The senator will return from his trip to give a series of policy speeches during April, aides said. The speeches will focus on the economy, the environment, health care and foreign policy.

"We've got to get our policies in order, hone all of our policies, get some speeches made, lay out our specific proposals," McCain told reporters last week.

McCain's "bio-tour" will include several stops that are not typical for Republicans. One adviser explained that efforts to woo Hispanic voters will require that the senator visit areas that most Republicans consider hostile territory.

"You can't just go to the Hispanic country club and talk to middle-class Hispanics," the adviser said. "We'll go into barrios and try to give them an inspiring message about how McCain's policies will help the whole community, just to give you one example."

But even as they work to build up McCain's image, his staff and other Republicans are keenly aware of the need to start tearing down the Democratic candidates while they remain consumed with one another.

Each morning, the RNC sends out an e-mail it calls the YAK! to radio talk show hosts across the country. Thursday's YAK!, for instance, urged chatter about Obama's links to Tony Rezko, a Chicago developer on trial for bribery; the "Bruised, Bitter, And 'Combustible' " Clinton campaign; and "Aristocrats And Interest Group Leaders To Decide Democrat Nominee." The RNC also has a full-time employee dedicated to ramping up McCain's message with bloggers.

The effort isn't foolproof, and McCain has already been burned by overeager Republicans who were trying to help. Bill Cunningham, an Ohio shock jock, used Obama's middle name, Hussein, repeatedly and derisively at an event where he introduced McCain. The Tennessee GOP did the same thing in a statement. McCain condemned both.

"People want to get at it," a senior Republican strategist said of the conservative radio hosts and bloggers. "There's a lot of anxiousness. What does that tell you? It tells you that the machine is really anxious to get out. It tells me there are people chomping at the bit to get to work."

One source of help could be Freedom's Watch, a lobbying group backed with money from major Republican donors, including Sheldon Adelson, the chairman and chief executive of the Las Vegas Sands Corp., and Mel Sembler, the strip-mall magnate from St. Petersburg, Fla. There is speculation the group will get involved in the presidential race, though it has given no indication yet that it intends to do so.

Freedom's Watch already helped orchestrate a $12 million ad campaign promoting efforts in Iraq that coincided with McCain's "No Surrender" tour. And those guiding the group's efforts include a stable of former McCain staffers, including Megan Ortagus, a former regional political coordinator; Ed Patru, who worked on his 2000 primary campaign; Jay Zeidman, who was on McCain's finance staff; and Mike Leavitt, who served as the senator's deputy political director until late last year.

Staff writer Matthew Mosk contributed to this report.