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 [ Chap VI ] [ McCain ] [ Chap VIII ]
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By Bill Muller
The Arizona Republic
Oct. 03, 1999 12:12:00

None of McCain's battles have caused so much uproar - especially in his own party - as campaign-finance reform.

He surprised everyone by teaming with Democrat Russell Feingold and drafting a bill that would cut the legs out from under the major parties.

McCain's target was ''soft money'' - unlimited contributions given to political parties by corporations. He sees this as the ultimate evil in government, greasing the wheels for special interests.

Detractors say this is a bit high-handed, especially coming from a man who accepted $112,000 in campaign contributions from Charlie Keating and his pals.

They also note that McCain's stand on campaign-finance reform has not prevented him from working Washington, D.C., for campaign cash or accepting tens of thousands of dollars from corporations who are under the thumb of the Commerce Committee, which McCain heads.

The committee holds sway over a number of key industries, overseeing issues ranging from cable and satellite television rules to airline deregulation to access to telephone long-distance markets.

Armed with this seeming contradiction, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott fired a salvo at McCain after he tried to re-energize his campaign-finance bill in July.

''I just think, when you're out there raising money right and left,'' Lott told The New York Times, ''and then you're talking about how you need to reform the system, it rings a little hollow.''

McCain says he will persist because he believes the public wants reform.

''Most Americans care very much that it is now legal for a subsidiary of a corporation owned by the Chinese Army to give unlimited amounts of money to American political campaigns,'' McCain says. ''Most Americans care very much that the Lincoln bedroom has become a Motel 6 where the president of the United States serves as the bellhop.''

Though outspoken in Congress, McCain has resisted criticizing other Republicans during the presidential race. Instead, he's decided that Clinton makes a good whipping boy.

When the Kosovo conflict broke out, public affairs shows went running to McCain, and he didn't disappoint them. He became the first major political figure to question Clinton's tactics.

Though Kosovo worked out in Clinton's favor, McCain didn't really take a hit, said Dennis Goldford, chairman of the department of politics and international relations at Drake University.

''Nothing backfired,'' Goldford said. ''McCain didn't propose something, some use of force, that backfired and had tremendous casualties and was a disaster.''

Since it was ultimately Clinton's call, ''McCain could take a principled position and not worry about whether it actually worked or not,'' Goldford said.

Even apart from Kosovo, McCain says, Clinton has pursued a ''feckless, photo-op foreign policy.''

McCain blames the president for gutting the military, which has seen its numbers reduced in recent years. He points to 11,000 military personnel on food stamps and pilots leaving the Navy and Air Force in record numbers to fly for commercial airlines, where they can make more money.

McCain also wants the armed forces rebuilt to better deal with modern threats.

''We have a military that is structured to fight a tank battle on the plains of Europe,'' McCain says. ''What we need is a force that can be moved around the world on short notice.''

He says that base closings are a must and that the government must provide proper health care for World War II veterans. He says it's an ''absolute disgrace'' that veterans are being ignored.

How does one rebuild the military and cut taxes at the same time? For McCain, that means targeting pork-barrel projects and weapons systems that he deems unnecessary, such as the Sea Wolf submarine, which will cost $4 billion apiece.

He also promises to repair Medicare and Social Security.

''More young Americans believe that Elvis is alive then believe they'll ever see a Social Security check,'' McCain says, adding that many in Congress don't see the need to repair Social Security. ''They figure, 'Since I'll be gone by then, I'll let you figure it out yourselves. And you don't vote, so hell.''
'A VERY EFFECTIVE VOICE'
Some have criticized McCain for failing to pass a piece of major legislation during his 17 years in Congress. McCain-Feingold died, as did his anti-tobacco bill. His line-item veto did pass, but it was later tossed out by the courts.

Congressman Matt Salmon, R-Ariz., said McCain shouldn't be judged on the number of bills he has passed.

''You should look at a person's success by how many bills they stopped,'' Salmon said. ''He's been a very effective voice at cutting wasteful spending. I don't judge a person based on how many bills they get through. . . . I think that's a bogus way of appraising somebody's strengths.''

McCain was first elected to the House in 1982 and served two terms. As a freshman congressman, he broke from the pack in criticizing President Reagan's decision to station troops in Lebanon.

In a House floor speech in September 1983, McCain called for the withdrawal of all U.S. Marines from Lebanon. He was one of 27 Republicans to defy Reagan openly.

''The longer we stay in Lebanon, the harder it will be for us to leave,'' he said.

A month later, McCain was tragically proved right when the Marine barracks were bombed, killing 241 U.S. servicemen.

That speech drew national press for McCain, who was lauded in Rolling Stone magazine and was listed as a ''Republican on the rise'' by U.S. News & World Report.

Much of his second House term was dominated by talk of him running for the Senate, though in 1985, he drew more national attention when he returned to Vietnam with CBS news legend Walter Cronkite.

In 1986, McCain was elected to the Senate, replacing legendary Arizona conservative Barry Goldwater. In 1998, McCain was elected to his third term.

Over the years, McCain has earned his maverick status. He's not afraid to make a controversial floor speech, though some argue they have had little effect.

His defiant nature plays well in Arizona, a conservative state with a sagebrush-rebellion mentality. GOP voters like McCain's politics.

For the most part, he's been a good Republican, in some ways more conservative than Goldwater. During most of his years in Congress, he has been in the minority party.

Last year, McCain voted with his party 81 percent of the time. He voted to convict Clinton during the president's impeachment and supported the Contract With America.

During the Reagan years, McCain followed the party line, voting for prayer in public schools, the 1986 tax reform act, continued subsidies for tobacco companies and the reintroduction of some handgun sales.

He voted against the Equal Rights Amendment, funding for the Clean Air Act and opposed the 1983 nuclear freeze resolution.

At times, though, he would go against the tide.

In 1986, McCain voted with a two-thirds majority to override Reagan's veto of sanctions against South Africa. The next year, he outfoxed the administration and stopped an attempt to funnel $28 million from a poverty food program into a raise for Department of Agriculture employees.

Today, as chairman of the Commerce Committee, McCain is shepherding the deregulation of the telephone industry as well as dealing with burgeoning issues involving transportation, cable television and the Internet.

McCain also has made a name for himself by fighting wasteful government spending, which often takes the form of pet federal projects in congressmen's or senators' districts.

As part of his campaign rhetoric, McCain notes that Congress looks at appropriations bills ''the way Willie Sutton looked at banks.''

To root out the pork, McCain has stationed a staffer at Appropriations Committee meetings. He also pushed the line-item veto, which would allow the president to remove certain elements of a bill while allowing the legislation to become law.

Although it passed, the courts struck down the line-item veto in 1997.

McCain recently started his ''It's Your Country'' Web site (www.itsyourcountry.com), to monitor pork and corporate welfare. It includes ''the daily outrage,'' naming companies that get huge federal subsidies in exchange for contributions to political parties.

McCain also targeted Big Tobacco, seeking to raise taxes on cigarettes to help states pay their smoking-related health care costs, finance an anti-smoking advertising campaign and pay for health research.

The tobacco industry mounted a $40 million national advertising campaign to defeat McCain's anti-tobacco bill, and it ultimately prevailed.

''The losers are the children of America,'' McCain said after the bill went down.
WATCHING HIS TEMPER
These days, John McCain is on his best behavior. He is focused on becoming president, and he's not going to let his temper get in the way. When reporters chase him on the street and ask for just one more question, McCain is accommodating.

''Anything,'' he says. ''Anything.''

It has not always been this way. More than one reporter has picked up his phone in the morning to hear McCain shrieking on the other end, furious over some injustice.

When The Republic ran an editorial cartoon about his wife Cindy's drug addiction, the senator didn't speak to his hometown paper for more than a year.

The cartoon, by Steve Benson, The Republic's Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist, showed Cindy McCain holding an emaciated child upside down by the ankle and shaking him over a field of starving children.

''Quit your crying and give me the drugs,'' read the caption.

McCain also has yelled at bureaucrats, dressed down fellow members of Congress and earned the name Sen. Hothead from Washingtonian magazine.

Some Arizona elected officials have been scarred by run-ins with McCain, who brooks no disloyalty - you are either with him or against him.

But McCain is a shrewd campaigner. He knows he can't show that side if he's going to reach the Oval Office.

His flaws remain below the surface, and they aren't drawing a lot of press.

''It has to have some new twist to it or new information, something like, hey, did you know . . .'' McCain says.

''There will always be people who will attack me. I've heard some of the damnedest things said about me. I was on a radio show in Charleston (S.C.), and someone calls up and says, 'Did you ever commit adultery with prostitutes in Subic Bay?' '' McCain recalls, laughing.

''And I said the last time I was in Subic Bay was 1966, but no.

''Once every couple weeks, some hand grenade is lobbed into the headquarters with some stupid statement or charge.''

McCain has one advantage: Much of his dirty laundry already has been aired.

BEDFORD, N.H. - McCain's campaign van is rocketing down the road to another event, another 100 people who want to shake his hand, hear his words, hope against hope that he'll be president.

He's leaning way back in the seat, answering questions about Vietnam, about Charlie Keating, about anything.

Just for a moment, his eyes close and he slumps a little, the weight of the campaign on his shoulders.

Then he's asked to define his message. McCain's eyes flutter open. The van is pulling to a stop in front of someone's home.

''Reform,'' McCain says as the door slides open.

There is faint smattering of applause from the lawn.

''Principle,'' he says. ''And freedom.''

And then he is gone.

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 [ Chap VI ] [ McCain ] [ Chap VIII ]
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