McCain announces run for White House

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Conservative senator, 70, considered one of the top Republican contenders ALAN FREEMAN WASHINGTON -- Senator John McCain, who made his reputation as a tough but independent-minded conservative politician, is making another attempt at the U.S. presidency. Yet this time, the 70-year-old Arizona senator is going to find that his run for the White House could be compromised not because he's too much of a maverick, but because he's too closely linked to President George W. Bush and the Iraq war. Mr. McCain, clearly trying to set himself apart from an already crowded Republican field for the 2008 primaries, decided on late-night TV to make his intentions known. "I am announcing that I will be a candidate for president of the United States," the craggy senator told The Late Show with David Letterman last night. He added that his formal announcement will come next month. Mr. McCain has already been running furiously for the job, and is seen as one of the top Republican contenders, along with former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. Yet his campaign is already seen as flagging against a surprisingly strong early showing by Mr. Giuliani. Last autumn, the two men were tied in a USA Today public opinion poll. Now the same newspaper says Mr. Giuliani is leading Mr. McCain 40 per cent to 24 per cent. The problem for the senator is that he is viewed as being too close to Mr. Bush on the increasingly unpopular Iraq war. He has long been a backer of increased troop levels as a way of winning the war and is now seen as the biggest cheerleader for the recent "surge" ordered by Mr. Bush. This closeness to Mr. Bush is notable since Mr. McCain was the Texan's most dangerous rival for the nomination in 2000, trouncing him in the key New Hampshire primary. It was only after a rough primary fight in South Carolina, in which the Bush campaign is suspected of electoral dirty tricks, that Mr. Bush was able to take the lead in the race. Mr. McCain has changed his stripes in other ways that have alienated the independent voters and right-wing Democrats who used to adore him. He opposed Mr. Bush's tax cuts in 2001 and now vows to extend them. Once supportive of abortion rights, he now states that Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion, should be overturned. And he is courting the Christian right wing of the Republican Party after dubbing evangelicals Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell "agents of intolerance" in 2000. Despite his support for the war, Mr. McCain has parted ways with Mr. Bush and has condemned the use of torture by U.S. forces. He also recently said that former defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld "will go down in history as one of the worst secretaries of defence in history." Asked in a recent interview whether the Iraq war would be the major issue of the 2008 campaign, Mr. McCain engaged in what was probably a bit of wishful thinking, responding, "If things got under control in Iraq, if we are showing success, I'm not sure that it will be the biggest issue." Mr. McCain, who is in his fourth term as Arizona senator, still has a big following by Americans who see him as a genuine war hero. A navy pilot, he was shot down over Vietnam in 1967 and was held prisoner until 1973. Adding to the challenges Mr. McCain faces is his age. If he makes it through the election, he would be even older than Ronald Reagan was when he won his first term as president, although he was 73 at the start of his second term. Other contenders for the Republican nomination, announced or otherwise, include Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, former Wisconsin governor Tommy Thompson and Representative Duncan Hunter of California.