According to Carl Cameron:
The McCain campaign believes beating Romney “in the state where people know him best” would be a decisive blow that would force Romney to reconsider and ultimately withdraw.
As FOX was first to report Wednesday, McCain plans to watch the Super Bowl and campaign in Boston!! Sunday night and Monday morning.
McCain has TV ads on the air in Massachusetts via a current national cable buy. Aides say they are going up with local radio spots tonight. In addition Former Massachusetts Governor(s) Jane Swift and Paul Cellucci both have full schedules of surrogate campaign events on behalf of McCain – they are not saying nice things about Mitt.
Finally the campaign has launched an aggressive robo telephone call blitz and expects helpful editorials from the Boston Globe and Boston Herald newspapers which have both endorsed McCain.
Romney has said repeatedly to FOX NEWS and others in recent days that he plans to continue after Super Tuesday and will assess his best path forward after the results are tabulated.
I have to admit that this is a very surprising development. Romney leads in MA by 20 points and so it’s hard to imagine McCain managing to pull out a win there. At the same time, given that the state awards delegates on a statewide, proportional basis, McCain could certainly make it a close race and pick up a lot of delegates that would’ve otherwise gone to Romney.
February 2nd, 2008 at 5:56 pm
Great news…the more money McCain wastes in Mass, the less he’ll have to spend in Ill., Mo., Tenn. and Calif.
February 2nd, 2008 at 5:56 pm
Let see, we must be in 1st grade because the type on this article is elementary.
February 2nd, 2008 at 5:57 pm
I knew Bush was going to win the ‘04 election the week before it happened because both he and Kerry were campaigning in states that Gore won in 2000. I feel the same way now.
February 2nd, 2008 at 5:58 pm
Go ahead and waste your money John.
February 2nd, 2008 at 6:00 pm
Yeah with McCain/s 4 million, I like that he is wasting money in MAss. Keep it up Mr. Economy.
February 2nd, 2008 at 6:02 pm
Here’s what McCain wants voters in CA to hear at 4 or 5 pm PST, when the polls in the east close.
“Fox News is projecting John McCain the winner in NY, CT, NJ, and DE… Massachusetts is too close to call!”
The idea is that millions of voters in CA who might have gone for Romney and who don’t follow the contours of politics will just assume that “this thing is over” and head home instead of waiting in line for an hour to vote. Lots of pundits still believe that Carter would’ve done better out west had Reagan not dominated the eastern states in 1980.
February 2nd, 2008 at 6:03 pm
Just more evidence that McCain is a nasty, vindictive, mean, egocentric, disgusting man; chase Osama all the way to the gates of hell John – and then just stay there.
February 2nd, 2008 at 6:03 pm
Hopefully the story will be, “While McCain wasted his time in Mass, Romney wins Arizona”.
February 2nd, 2008 at 6:06 pm
DaveG,
And here is what they will here, “Romney is up in Mass by 20 points just like the polls said.”
And McCain campaigning in MA is hardly proof of invincibility as much as it is McCain’s ego.
February 2nd, 2008 at 6:09 pm
bjalder, that would be awesome!!!
February 2nd, 2008 at 6:14 pm
This shows McCain is getting cocky and is wasting resources. In most places his lead over Romney is in the single digits and could evaporate overnight. The expectations are very high for McCain on Tuesday. He better live up to them.
February 2nd, 2008 at 6:15 pm
Right-O JerryO!
February 2nd, 2008 at 6:15 pm
This, to me, speaks to McCain’s arrogance…that he wants to win Mass., just because
its Mitt’s home state, but from a strategic standpoint, I hope it backfires on him big time. He’s leading or
competitive in so many sounthern states, and could spend these 24 hours hitting maybe 5 states if he was thinking say,
like a Romney President would, But instead, his militaristic arrogance has him hunkered down in Mass., where he may steal a
handful of delegates. Smart thinking, to go along with his “Straight talking”.
February 2nd, 2008 at 6:19 pm
Something tells me you say that to all the gals…
February 2nd, 2008 at 6:39 pm
To me, this is a risky attempt to signal how “in charge” he is or he is blowing smoke trying to draw focus away from real battleground states.
Just seems uncharacteristic for a contender in the lead. It’s like being ahead by 4 in the super bowl with 30 seconds on the clock, 4th down and goal…and going for a touchdown rather than a field goal. I wonder if he’ll run foreign affairs with this maverick, risky style. Something to think about isn’t it.
February 2nd, 2008 at 6:41 pm
I wouldnt be terribly surprised that Romney wins AZ. Why not. If we use the mormon theory, consider that AZ has 7% mormons. Of that, I would say that Mormons make up about 10-12% of the GOP in AZ (since most are republican). Of that, I would say they will make up 15% of the overall voters (since they vote in elections more than many). Of that, I would say that 80%+ or more go to Romney, though that might be high. Either way, Romney has raised a ton of money in AZ, has the support of key people, and might surprise some people.
AZ loves Senator Kyle, but they only mildly like Senator McCain. He is disliked by many in his party there and has been abused on local conservative talk radio for 7+ years now. That will matter for some.
February 2nd, 2008 at 6:53 pm
Jason, thank you for quoting this news article. I saw a couple of news on Yahoo! News, one that I knew is wrong. First, an article claimed Mitt plans to drop out on Wednesday if he is not doing well on SuperTuesday. There is no citition from any of Romney team about that. The journalist just made this claim by himself (or herself, whoever it was)!
Second, I saw another article this morning that is attacking McCain’s stance on “ZERO” earmarks. I am surprised to see MSM starting going after McCain already, when his nomination has not been assured yet!
February 2nd, 2008 at 7:01 pm
Husky (#16) I want to add that Arizonia also is a closed primary state, but it may not matter, because it looks like you can register on the same day as the election.
February 2nd, 2008 at 7:09 pm
Ann Coulter: “McCain has concocted some fantasy about how a bunch of Republicans were ganging up on him for supporting the surge. Every Republican supported the surge! He’s confusing Republicans with his liberal friends!”
February 2nd, 2008 at 7:11 pm
I’m getting more and more insight into John McCain everyday. The following comment helped me quite a bit to become clearer on what a McCain presidency would be like:
Let us look at McCain’s conservative credentials:
-IMMIGRATION: he wrote the bill granting amnesty to illegal immigrants (co-sponsored by Ted Kennedy)
-SOCIAL SECURITY: he voted to give your social security money to illegal immigrants
-TAXES: he voted against the Bush tax cuts multiple times (he has since flip-flopped and has campaigned as a lifelong tax-cutter)
-RHETORIC: he routinely engages in Democratic class warfare against big companies in America, particularly the “evil†drug companies who research cures to debilitating diseases for a profit
-ECONOMY: as recently as December 2007 he admitted “he does not know the economy very well†and needed to get better at it
-1ST AMENDMENT: he wrote the McCain-Feingold campaign finance bill that was declared to be an unconstitutional infringement of the 1st Amendment (co-sponsored by ultra-liberal Democrat Russ Feingold)
-2ND AMENDMENT: he was called the “worst 2nd amendment candidate†by the president of the NRA
-ENERGY TAX: wrote a bill (co-sponsored by his buddy Lieberman) imposing a massive tax on energy which, according to the Department of Energy, would drastically raise the price of gasoline and put 300,000 Americans out of work
-GLOBAL WARMING: supports radical global warming legislation which involved him voting with every Democrat; think only America is responsible to take action, not other superpowers
-JUDGES: he joined forces with Democrats (Gang of 14) to block the Senate Republican’s attempt to confirm conservative, strict constructionist judges
-WAR ON TERROR: fought with Hillary Clinton to demand that terrorists be given a full American trial
-GAY MARRIAGE: he joined liberals to fight against a federal marriage amendment supporting the institution of traditional marriage
-CHRISTIANS: campaigning in 2000, he famously described Christian leaders as “agents of intoleranceâ€
-PRO-LIFE: he filed an amicus brief against pro-life advocates in Wisconsin
-BI-PARTISANSHIP: he met with leading Democrats in 2004 to discuss the possibility of being John Kerry’s Vice-President
-PROFESSIONAL ETHICS: ringleader of the infamous Keating 5 ethical scandal which cost US tax payers $160 billion (Google it)
-PERSONAL ETHICS: McCain cheated on his first wife after she had a severe accident that left her partially disabled. He then divorced her and married his multi-millionaire mistress, whose daddy bought McCain a spot in the Congress
Dan, DJCozzi@wulaw.wustl.edu Feb 01, 2008 @
February 2nd, 2008 at 7:30 pm
16 Husky, Arizona is 10.8% Mormon.
February 2nd, 2008 at 7:40 pm
beth,
While I’ve posted on most of McCain’s transgressions, and am therefore aware of them, when you pithily point them out in a comprehensive list….even I am shocked. Good job!
February 2nd, 2008 at 7:43 pm
Way to go McLiar… Spend that money.
February 3rd, 2008 at 12:58 am
Husky: “AZ loves Senator Kyle, but they only mildly like Senator McCain.”
I don’t think you know much about Arizona. It’s true that Kyl is popular, but he won in 2006 by less than 10%, about 54-46 (he had a strong challenger); McCain won in 2004 with over 75% of the vote. The Dems didn’t bother to put up a real race, knowing that they had no chance.
McCain is up about 20% in Arizona in the latest polls. He’ll win easily and it wouldn’t shock me if he beat Romney in the Mormon areas of the state.