A familiar McCain back on old stomping ground

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), fresh off his disappointing bid for the White House, returned to a familiar role in the Senate on Wednesday, shaking up his own party and reaching across the aisle to Democrats.

In a span of hours, McCain told Republicans in a closed-door meeting they needed to tone down the party’s anti-immigration rhetoric, then appeared at a news conference with his old friend Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) to lead a bipartisan call to crack down on earmarks.

McCain also unveiled a new political action committee, Country First, a grassroots organization that borrows from his campaign slogan and promises to “strengthen our party [and] better define our Republican ideals and message,” according to a letter he sent to supporters. The group’s website went online Wednesday. It was a symbolic day for the senator who is often called a “maverick,” as McCain signaled that the direction he intends to take after suffering a major blow on the national stage is straight out of his old playbook.

“I am tickled pink to be here on stage with him,” said Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill (Mo.), who stood with McCain, Feingold and Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) to call for new transparency requirements for members seeking earmarks. McCaskill was a key supporter of President-elect Obama during his capaign against McCain. Prior to his presidential run, McCain had rattled many in his party by striking deals with Democrats on contentious matters. That included his work with Feingold on the landmark campaign finance law that bears their name, and a failed attempt with Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) to pass legislation that would have put millions of illegal immigrants on a path to citizenship.

On the second day of the 111th Congress, McCain touched those raw nerves again while embarking on the next chapter in his well-documented political career.

At the all-day, private GOP meeting at the Library of Congress, McCain told colleagues their poor image among Hispanics, which he attributed to bitter intra-party squabbles over immigration reform, dealt his campaign a devastating blow.

“He talked about his own race and the devastating loss of Hispanic voters and how that arose on the rhetoric on immigration,” said a Senate Republican who attended the meeting.

A Republican senator who attended the meeting said that McCain emphasized the importance of healing the rift with Hispanics by talking about immigration reform in a “positive” way. McCain also discussed the importance of expanding the size of the party’s tent by appealing to young voters.

“So we’re not just the party of graying white men,” said the lawmaker.

McCain won the support of only 31 percent of Hispanics. President Bush won nearly 45 percent of that demographic in 2004.

{mospagebreak}Democrats enjoyed a nearly 30 percent advantage among young voters in the 2008 election. In 2004, by contrast, Republicans lost the demographic by only 11 percent.

 Some political observers have questioned whether the remainder of McCain’s Senate career would show the same level of leadership and participation in the Senate as before his White House run. His fourth term expires in 2010, but he has pledged to run for reelection.

The senior Republican senator from Arizona sent a clear message to colleagues that the answer is yes.

 McCain left the private GOP meeting to join Feingold, Coburn and McCaskill at a news conference introducing their earmark legislation, which they would like amended to the economic stimulus bill being drafted by Democratic leaders and Obama’s transition team.

McCain said he was encouraged that Obama had pledged to have an earmark-free stimulus bill and echoed one of his most aggressive pledges of the campaign: “Our goal is not transparency. Our goal is the elimination of earmarks.”

McCain, humbled in his own stomping grounds, even found some humor in having to follow Feingold’s name on the bill. Feingold recalled the “Saturday Night Live” skit that McCain appeared in the weekend before Election Day, showing McCain peddling household goods in between campaign pitches, including a McCain-Feingold jewelry line.

Feingold noted Wednesday that the bill now be “Feingold-McCain,” prompting McCain to deadpan: “But it’s still a wonderful bargain.”

McCain told GOP colleagues that he thought he had a good chance of winning when gas prices were high and the GOP was gaining ground in the polls by talking about the need to expand domestic drilling, according to GOP sources in the room.

But McCain said he watched his poll numbers plummet when the stock market began to fall precipitously after Labor Day.

McCain told colleagues that he gave the race his best and apologized for the times the campaign flagged.

“He talked about the loss of Hispanics and the loss of young people,” said a GOP source. “He did stress the importance of the party reaching out to Hispanics.”

Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.), who last year oversaw the Senate Republican campaign committee, said Republicans hashed out the need to reverse their slide in support among Hispanics.

“It was discussed big time,” said Ensign. “We have to reach out to Hispanics. We need to go on Hispanic media much more.”

Only 32 percent of voters between the ages of 18 and 29 voted for him and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

Republicans also discussed how they could rebuild the political coalition of married women, middle-class voters, Catholics and independents that enabled Ronald Reagan to win the White House in 1980 and Republicans to capture Congress in 1994.

“We discussed a whole range of things we could do better,” said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) at a press conference after the retreat. “We obviously were not pleased with the percentage of Hispanic votes we got in the last election and we hope to do better.”

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