EDITORIAL: McCain at the Front

Jan 31, 06:40 AM

Jan. 31--Mitt Romney looked forward to tangling with John McCain in the Florida primary. Republicans alone would participate. McCain wouldn't be aided by the independents who rallied to his candidacy in New Hampshire and South Carolina. Then, on Tuesday, Election Day arrived, and McCain defied the odds again, his once-shattered candidacy slowly pulled back together, the triumph in Florida positioning the Arizona senator to seize the Republican presidential nomination in the days and weeks ahead.

Romney and others in the party are gnashing their teeth. Rush Limbaugh, in particular, reviles McCain. Many Republicans deplore McCain having worked with Russ Feingold on campaign-finance reform. They fume about his advocating steps to address climate change and granting illegal immigrants a path to citizenship. They remember his early opposition to President Bush's tax cuts. Romney may believe that a one-on-one race with McCain would permit those conservative voices to prevail. Yet Mike Huckabee remains in the race, likely draining potential support from the former Massachusetts governor.

Thus, McCain charged through the opening, almost 40 percent of the vote serving as enough. Mind you, McCain is a conservative, his political heroes no less than Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan. He appears out of touch with his excessive praise for Alan Greenspan. Striking is his aversion to deliberate divisiveness and the ideological purity that Romney has tried desperately to convey.

That posture resonated with many voters eight years ago. It still does today. President Bush would have been wise to follow such a course. Now Republicans have another opportunity, McCain representing a route that arrives closer to the center, where most Americans reside politically and where problems more often are addressed effectively.

What McCain also brings is authenticity, emphasized by Rudy Giuliani on Wednesday. If the senator doesn't always talk as straight as he suggests, he has remained true to his personal story, the Navy pilot held prisoner during the Vietnam War, keenly aware of what is required in putting country first.

Many Republicans applaud McCain the national security hawk. He has been harshly critical of the Bush team's conduct of the Iraq war and defiantly insistent about completing the mission. Again, though there are many reasons to disagree, you cannot cast aside the steadfastness, the independence of thought. Republicans interested in holding the White House, John McCain is your best shot.

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