Game Change_ Obama And The Clintons, McCain And Palin, And The Race Of A Lifetime Part 16

McCain was at his best in the town hall meetings that were a staple of New Hamps.h.i.+re's quirky political culture. They were how he won the state in 2000, and ever since the No Surrender Tour, town halls in New Hamps.h.i.+re were the oxygen that sustained him. Week by week, day by day, he could feel himself picking up steam. For one thing, the crowds were getting bigger; he always took a mental count. For another, they were getting friendlier. At a town hall up in North Haverhill in late November, the audience was practically hanging from the rafters. And when it was over, a stream of people came up and said, unprompted, "I'm voting for you."

Equally heartening for McCain was this: no longer was he getting blistered by the anti-immigration forces. Oh, sure, he still had to defend his position on the issue. The hot-eyed ranting had ceased, however, and that was a good sign.

McCain's advisers were glad to hear his rosy reports from the road. But contrary to what he might have believed, they knew he couldn't win the state on town halls alone. Back in September, the campaign had sc.r.a.ped together just enough money to get him on the air in New Hamps.h.i.+re. McCain's advisers wanted to use the famous footage of him in Hanoi filmed after his capture, the pictures of him p.r.o.ne and in excruciating pain, his broken bones encased in slipshod dressing. McCain resisted, as he had throughout his career, the exploitation of his suffering for political gain. But Salter and Schmidt brought him around. "You don't have an option of not talking about who you are and what made you who you are," Schmidt said. "That decision got made the day you decided to run for president of the United States. Whether you like it or not, that's reality, and if you don't do it, we don't have a prayer."

McCain reluctantly agreed, and the ad stirred up a lot of press attention. Several weeks later at a debate, McCain snapped out a sound bite for the ages. "A few days ago, Senator Clinton tried to spend one million dollars on the Woodstock concert museum," he said. "Now, my friends, I wasn't there. I'm sure it was a cultural and pharmaceutical event." Pause. "I was tied up at the time."

The audience roared, and the campaign took the cue. The quip became part of another TV ad for New Hamps.h.i.+re.

McCain had taken New Hamps.h.i.+re a bit for granted at the start, as he ran around trying to raise money to pay for that Bush machine his lieutenants were building. He'd made it easy for Romney to seize the top slot in the polls. The funny thing was, as events unfolded, this worked to McCain's advantage, with Romney writing him off for months. Now the former governor found himself under siege in Iowa, where Huckabee was coming on strong. More good news for McCain; it let him continue to fly under the radar.

One day in late October, out of the blue, McCain told Charlie Black, "We gotta get to twenty percent by December first" in New Hamps.h.i.+re. Black had no idea where the number or target date had come from. Davis didn't know, either. The goal struck them as arbitrary, but what the h.e.l.l? If it helped McCain to have a tangible marker, fine.

McCain talked about the goal incessantly from then on. Twenty percent, twenty percent, twenty percent. Then, in late November, they all looked up, and there he was: Fox News put him at 21 percent, just eight points behind Romney.

OVER THANKSGIVING, MCCAIN MADE another trip back to Iraq, accompanied again by Graham and also by Democratic senator Joe Lieberman, of Connecticut. While they were there they met with General Petraeus and visited Jimmy McCain in Anbar Province.

McCain and Lieberman had developed a close friends.h.i.+p through the years, and the war was a big part of it. Lieberman was inarguably the most hawkish Democrat in the Senate. He and McCain saw eye to eye on almost everything when it came to Iraq, but the bond was deeper than that. It was forged around the antipathy they both had for the bases of their parties, which was reciprocated in spades. Though Lieberman had been Al Gore's running mate in 2000 and was a fairly standard issue Democrat on most social and economic issues, his foreign policy stances had made him an enemy of the left and especially of the netroots, which had successfully targeted him for defeat in the 2006 Connecticut Democratic primary. Lieberman now called himself an Independent Democrat. McCain could relate to that.

The day after returning from Iraq, McCain phoned Lieberman. New Hamps.h.i.+re is going to be everything for me, he said. And there's a lot of independents who are going to vote in the primary. I want to ask if you'd think about giving me your support. If you can't, I'll understand. You're in enough trouble with your party already, but I know it would help me out a lot.

Give me a couple of days to think it over, Lieberman replied. It's a big step, but you know how I feel about you. We've been through a lot together and particularly on the war.

A former Democratic vice-presidential nominee endorsing a Republican? It sure was a big step. Lieberman talked it over with his wife, a couple of staffers, a few friends back home. One of them said, I think you're crazy-but McCain's campaign won't last long, so this will be a brief interlude. For Lieberman, deciding to support McCain would mean crossing another Rubicon. The calumny that would be hurled at him from the left, he knew, would be intense.

On the other hand, not a single Democratic candidate had asked for Lieberman's endors.e.m.e.nt, not even his fellow Connecticut senator, Chris Dodd. For all the distance between him and his party, Lieberman still found that level of ostracism surprising-and painful, very painful. He believed that McCain had shown guts by putting his campaign on the line to stick with the surge. Also that he'd be the best president in a dangerous world. I don't agree with him on everything, but I agree with him on a lot of big things, and war and peace is one I don't agree with him on everything, but I agree with him on a lot of big things, and war and peace is one, Lieberman thought. Besides, the guy's my friend. Besides, the guy's my friend.

Lieberman's endors.e.m.e.nt came on December 15 in New Hamps.h.i.+re. For McCain, it capped a three-month run of favorable press, rising poll numbers, and the new story line that he had created through the sheer force of his personality. Between Christmas and New Year's, a series of polls showed him ahead in New Hamps.h.i.+re for the first time since the early spring.

McCain had gone from front-runner to corpse to contender in less than a year. Everyone a.s.sumed he was flying high: the Mac was back. But the truth was, dangling over his head was a sword of Damocles invisible to almost everyone, if no less menacing for that. The blade was in the form of a newspaper article that was threatening to drop any day. McCain thought it might kill more than his shot at the nomination. He thought it might destroy his career and his reputation-even though the woman at the heart of the story insisted that she'd never even been alone with him.

Chapter Seventeen.

Slipping Nooses, Slaying Demons.

VICKI ISEMAN WAS A small-town girl in Gucci Gulch. She came from rural Pennsylvania, born in the same burg as Jimmy Stewart, where she was a high-school cheerleader. She arrived in Was.h.i.+ngton in 1990 with a degree in elementary education and everything she owned stuffed inside two plastic garbage bags. She landed a job as a receptionist at a lobbying shop called Alcalde and Fay. Eight years later, she became the youngest partner in the firm's history. On paper, she gave every appearance of being a familiar Was.h.i.+ngton archetype: ambitious, workaholic, politically connected, thin and blond and pretty. But she was more a striver than a climber, more earnest than gimlet-eyed. Her clients were mid-level corporations, mostly telecommunications companies that no one had ever heard of. She didn't work the social circuit or want to be a public figure; she had no interest in appearing on Hardball. Hardball. She seemed slightly wonderstruck by how far she'd come. When her college newspaper interviewed her in 2002, she talked about the great view of the nation's capital she had through her office windows, and proudly listed the celebrities she had been lucky enough to meet: Melanie Griffith, Bo Derek, Britney Spears, and Rudy Giuliani. She seemed slightly wonderstruck by how far she'd come. When her college newspaper interviewed her in 2002, she talked about the great view of the nation's capital she had through her office windows, and proudly listed the celebrities she had been lucky enough to meet: Melanie Griffith, Bo Derek, Britney Spears, and Rudy Giuliani.

McCain was another boldface name with whom Iseman was acquainted by then. As the chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee in the late nineties, he held sway over regulations that affected companies she represented. Iseman supported McCain in his 2000 race and helped him raise money for it. In February 1999, she and the senator flew down to Miami and back together on the corporate jet of one of her clients to attend a fund-raiser. The shared transport may have seemed like little more than a convenience to the lobbyist and the senator-but to McCain's advisers, it looked like trouble.

With his wife three thousand miles away, McCain was on his own for months at a time when he was in Was.h.i.+ngton. As a rule, his aides saw no need to police him and had no desire to play chaperone. The level of scrutiny accorded the private life of an ordinary senator was minimal, anyway. But with McCain preparing for his first presidential bid, the glare of the spotlight was about to increase a thousandfold. Appearances mattered now more than ever. So when a rumor that McCain was having an affair with Iseman started flitting through Was.h.i.+ngton, his advisers blanched. Some thought it was true, some thought it was false, but they all feared that it could pry open a can of worms.

The Iseman problem never reared its head publicly in 2000, and the qualms of McCain's team receded for years thereafter. But in the first half of 2007, just as McCain's new campaign was launching and faltering in the same breath, a reporter from U.S. News & World Report U.S. News & World Report began pursuing a story that McCain and Iseman had been s.e.xually involved. Iseman denied it. The McCainiacs pushed back hard. began pursuing a story that McCain and Iseman had been s.e.xually involved. Iseman denied it. The McCainiacs pushed back hard. U.S. News U.S. News ran an article on McCain and lobbyists, but mentioned neither the allegation nor Iseman. ran an article on McCain and lobbyists, but mentioned neither the allegation nor Iseman.

Now, in November 2007, the Iseman problem had returned with a vengeance. The New York Times The New York Times was on the case, with four staffers a.s.signed to the story. was on the case, with four staffers a.s.signed to the story.

Iseman's colleagues at Alcalde told her that reporters had been calling and asking questions about her relations.h.i.+p with McCain. When one of them left a message for her, she refused to return the call. But she started to panic as she discovered the scope of the Times's Times's investigation. She called Rick Davis and told him about the unsettling intrusion into her life. "What is going on? Where is this coming from?" Iseman asked. "Is it Weaver?" investigation. She called Rick Davis and told him about the unsettling intrusion into her life. "What is going on? Where is this coming from?" Iseman asked. "Is it Weaver?"

Iseman had known Davis, a fellow lobbyist, longer than she had known McCain. She trusted Rick-unlike Weaver, whom she loathed. Back in 1999, after the Miami trip, Iseman and Weaver had clashed, with Weaver instructing her to steer clear of McCain, and they hadn't spoken since.

Davis tried to soothe Iseman, who sounded desperate and a little unhinged. But he shared her surmise that his former rival was the culprit. Ever since his departure, Weaver had been carping to reporters about the McCain campaign; Davis blamed him for some nasty leaks in the wake of the implosion. Within Team McCain there was a strong suspicion that all roads in the Times Times inquiry led back to Weaver. inquiry led back to Weaver.

But the sourcing behind the Iseman story was the least of the campaign's worries about it. The perception that McCain, the great reformer, was too close to the capital's influence peddlers had hurt him badly before; in 2000, the Bush campaign had skewered him mercilessly over that contradiction. Allegations of infidelity aside, the Times Times could do McCain damage on the hypocrisy front. The publication of the story might also incite more unwelcome snooping around in McCain's bedroom-which would be bad enough by itself, but potentially devastating in a party dominated by religious conservatives who didn't trust McCain to begin with. Already, as word had spread in media circles about what the could do McCain damage on the hypocrisy front. The publication of the story might also incite more unwelcome snooping around in McCain's bedroom-which would be bad enough by itself, but potentially devastating in a party dominated by religious conservatives who didn't trust McCain to begin with. Already, as word had spread in media circles about what the Times Times was chasing, at least a half-dozen new delvings into McCain's personal life had been undertaken by news organizations. At the same time, the campaign was coping with an incipient revival of the story about Cindy's alleged extramarital wanderings; McCainworld heard that there might be an incriminating surveillance videotape of her and another man. was chasing, at least a half-dozen new delvings into McCain's personal life had been undertaken by news organizations. At the same time, the campaign was coping with an incipient revival of the story about Cindy's alleged extramarital wanderings; McCainworld heard that there might be an incriminating surveillance videotape of her and another man.

As November turned to December, the public picture of McCain's campaign was all about revival. But privately, his advisers were living in terror. Behind the scenes, no single issue was consuming more of the staff's time or psychic energy than the Iseman problem-and nothing was weighing more heavily on the candidate's mind. Outwardly, McCain was coming on strong in New Hamps.h.i.+re, but inside, he was coming undone.

From early in the morning until late at night, he was distracted, tense, and gruff. Like Iseman, McCain was hearing that a wide range of his past and present a.s.sociates was being contacted by the Times Times for the story. He dispatched friends with connections at the Gray Lady to try to penetrate its veil of mystery. "Where do you think we are on this?" McCain would ask. Umpteen times a day, he'd phone Davis, Salter, Black, or Schmidt, all of whom were dealing with the story in one way or another. What's happening with the for the story. He dispatched friends with connections at the Gray Lady to try to penetrate its veil of mystery. "Where do you think we are on this?" McCain would ask. Umpteen times a day, he'd phone Davis, Salter, Black, or Schmidt, all of whom were dealing with the story in one way or another. What's happening with the Times Times? Have we heard from them? What do they want? What do we have to do?

McCain's att.i.tude about the likely outcome was dark. "They're out to get me, boy," he'd say. Or, "They're coming after us." Or, "They're going to f.u.c.k us."

Finally, in early December, McCain decided he could take it no more. He thought the way the paper was handling the story was shoddy, its tactics bordering on hara.s.sment. He believed he had a solid relations.h.i.+p with Bill Keller, the executive editor of the Times. Times. On a conference call with Davis and the rest of the campaign's top bra.s.s, McCain said, "f.u.c.k it, I'll talk to Keller." On a conference call with Davis and the rest of the campaign's top bra.s.s, McCain said, "f.u.c.k it, I'll talk to Keller."

McCain was astonished when, after reaching Keller, almost the first thing out of the editor's mouth was: Is it true? "I have never betrayed the public trust by doing anything like that," McCain replied, and then got off the phone in a hurry.

The next two weeks were a frenzy within the McCain camp as the Times Times appeared to be moving toward publis.h.i.+ng the story-which, apart from whatever seamy stuff it might contain, was apparently going to take a substantial look at McCain's efforts on behalf of corporate interests and their water-carriers. Salter was spending three quarters of each day doing nothing but diving into cardboard boxes, excavating ancient records, and pulling up doc.u.ments in response to the appeared to be moving toward publis.h.i.+ng the story-which, apart from whatever seamy stuff it might contain, was apparently going to take a substantial look at McCain's efforts on behalf of corporate interests and their water-carriers. Salter was spending three quarters of each day doing nothing but diving into cardboard boxes, excavating ancient records, and pulling up doc.u.ments in response to the Times Times reporters' detailed questions. reporters' detailed questions.

On a parallel track, the campaign was preparing its defense strategy. Schmidt's well-honed and long-held view was that you couldn't go wrong in Republican politics by attacking the Times. Times. To help with handling the media circus that was bound to ensue, McCain hired the Was.h.i.+ngton power lawyer Bob Bennett, who had served as Bill Clinton's personal attorney during the Paula Jones s.e.xual hara.s.sment case. To help with handling the media circus that was bound to ensue, McCain hired the Was.h.i.+ngton power lawyer Bob Bennett, who had served as Bill Clinton's personal attorney during the Paula Jones s.e.xual hara.s.sment case.

Meanwhile, Iseman hired a lawyer of her own-actually, her second-and was in a bad way. She felt sick, wasn't eating, had lost a parlous amount of weight; her paranoia was stratospheric. She was talking with Davis constantly, sharing with him her answers to the written list of questions the Times Times had provided at her request-a degree of coordination about which few were aware. At the top of her reply, Iseman wrote, I am a private citizen. You are destroying my life. She again insisted that she never had a romantic relations.h.i.+p with the senator. had provided at her request-a degree of coordination about which few were aware. At the top of her reply, Iseman wrote, I am a private citizen. You are destroying my life. She again insisted that she never had a romantic relations.h.i.+p with the senator.

The McCain campaign braced for the story to run the week before Christmas, and sent Bennett to meet with the Times Times reporters. Then, on December 20, the Drudge Report blared an item with the headline "MEDIA FIREWORKS: McCAIN PLEADS WITH NY TIMES TO SPIKE STORY." The banner was a reference to the Keller call, but the tantalizing part of the post was elsewhere. The reporters "hoped to break the story before the Christmas holiday," it said, "but editor Keller expressed serious reservations about journalism ethics and issuing a damaging story so close to an election." reporters. Then, on December 20, the Drudge Report blared an item with the headline "MEDIA FIREWORKS: McCAIN PLEADS WITH NY TIMES TO SPIKE STORY." The banner was a reference to the Keller call, but the tantalizing part of the post was elsewhere. The reporters "hoped to break the story before the Christmas holiday," it said, "but editor Keller expressed serious reservations about journalism ethics and issuing a damaging story so close to an election."

The revelation that the Times Times was pursuing such an explosive line of inquiry caused the political world to gasp. The Romney campaign saw the item and worried that the piece would never be considered fit to print. For Romney, the publication of the story before New Hamps.h.i.+re would all but guarantee that he won the state. For McCain, the calculation was the converse: if the story ran, he was dead. was pursuing such an explosive line of inquiry caused the political world to gasp. The Romney campaign saw the item and worried that the piece would never be considered fit to print. For Romney, the publication of the story before New Hamps.h.i.+re would all but guarantee that he won the state. For McCain, the calculation was the converse: if the story ran, he was dead.

The whole thing was excruciating for McCain; fending off such personal attacks, true or false, felt like South Carolina all over again. "I do find the timing of this whole issue very interesting," McCain told the a.s.sociated Press on the day the Drudge item appeared. "And we're not going to stand for what happened to us in 2000."

But Schmidt was certain that no act of defiance would be necessary at that point. They don't have the story, he told McCain. If we get to Christmas and they don't publish, we'll be fine. They're not going to put something out a few days before Iowa. It's just not going to happen.

"I hope you're right," McCain replied, using one of his favorite expressions. What it meant was: Don't bet on it.

IN THE DAYS BEFORE the New Hamps.h.i.+re primary on January 8, the McCain campaign was suffused in an aura of nostalgia: the Straight Talk Express crisscrossing the s...o...b..nked byways, with McCain in the back of the bus cracking wise, the hack pack huddled around him. McCain's town hall meetings were jammed, his wit and spontaneity on display. The Sunday before the vote, at an event in Salem, he was questioned by an audience member who objected to his support for Bush's tax cuts as fiscally irresponsible. "You're still in purgatory," the man said.

"Thank you," replied McCain. "That's a step up from where I was last summer."

McCain was openly, fanatically superst.i.tious. In New Hamps.h.i.+re, he carried with him his lucky penny and lucky compa.s.s, and not only stayed in the same room in the same hotel as he did in 2000, but slept on the same side of the bed. And though such behavior might have struck some as obsessive-compulsive, it reflected his awareness of the role that blind luck had played in his revival.

Mark McKinnon, the former media adviser to President Bush who was now filling that role for McCain, observed that his current boss's winning required that he draw a political inside straight. In the last months of 2007, McCain had been dealt the first two cards in that hand: the apparent success of the Iraq surge, and the reduction in the heat surrounding immigration. The results of the Iowa caucuses on January 3 delivered him a third. Huckabee trounced Romney by nine points, leaving McCain's only serious compet.i.tion in New Hamps.h.i.+re reeling. The fourth card came courtesy of the Times Times, which made good on Schmidt's optimism and continued to hold back the Iseman story. And the fifth was slapped down in front of him by New Hamps.h.i.+re, where he won the primary by five points over Romney. Accepting his hard-earned victory, he told the crowd, "We are the makers of history, not its victims."

McCain's luck at the table continued in the Michigan primary on January 15, though it was less than evident at the time. In a state with the nation's highest unemployment rate and a manufacturing base hollowed out to the point of collapse, McCain had chosen candor over pander-"Those jobs aren't coming back," he declared-and paid the price at the polls, losing to Romney by nine points.

Yet McCain's long-run prospects were bolstered by the curious strategy pursued by Huckabee. With his energetic base of Evangelical support, Huckabee stood as McCain's greatest threat in the next primary, in South Carolina, which came four days after Michigan. But seduced by the notion that his appeals to economic populism would play well in Michigan, Huckabee and his team decided to devote several days and a pile of cash-precious resources, of which he had little-to the state. Not only did Huckabee finish a distant third, but he also missed the chance to get a jump on McCain in South Carolina.

With all eyes transfixed on the Democrats, the Republican primary in the Palmetto State might as well have been occurring in Bora-Bora for all the attention it received. Yet in the contemporary history of the GOP, no contest had been a more reliable bellwether in determining who would eventually claim the Republican nomination. Since 1980, when Lee At.w.a.ter pushed his native state to the front of the presidential calendar, every winner of South Carolina had gone on to become the party's standard-bearer.

The McCains were nervous as they entered the sprint to primary day. The polls showed a tighter race than John had hoped it would be after his victory in New Hamps.h.i.+re, his lead over Huckabee in the low single digits. Cindy, still scarred by the memories of 2000, was uncomfortable every moment she spent on the ground. And her husband was only minimally less haunted. The possibility of another crus.h.i.+ng loss in South Carolina-one that, in light of McCain's still-threadbare financial circ.u.mstances, might effectively end his campaign-filled him with dread.

In one crucial respect, however, the McCain of 2008 was a very different animal in South Carolina than the McCain of 2000. No longer the insurgent, no longer the rabble-rouser, he was the candidate of the Establishment. His most loyal supporter, Lindsey Graham, was the state's senior senator, and had done yeoman's work in corralling the endors.e.m.e.nts of local elected officials early on-and holding them in place during the dark days of 2007. At events across South Carolina in the days leading up to the balloting, McCain stood arm in arm with those officials. He also basked in the glow of the support of the state's war veterans, some of whom had turned viciously against him in 2000. In almost no other way had McCain's campaign wound up resembling the Bush model, but he was grateful for these two exceptions.

By primary night, no one had a clue as to what might happen. Romney had pulled most of his advertising to focus on Florida-that was good. Giuliani had failed to make the smart move and campaign along the affluent South Carolina coast, where there were scads of pro-choice voters-another boon to McCain. But when the polls closed, neither the networks nor the AP were prepared to project a winner. The early returns were screwy, the forecasting models were messed up. It was going to take a while.

In the McCains' hotel suite, the tension was nearly unbearable. Always optimistic, Graham began doing his own a.n.a.lysis as the results from certain counties came in, predicting victory. But McCain didn't want to hear happy talk, even from Lindsey. Don't say that, he snarled through gritted teeth. You don't know that. Just shut up.

Watching her husband pace around the room only made Cindy more anxious. "Is everything going to be okay?" she whispered to Davis, on the brink of tears.

When word arrived after eight o'clock that McCain had narrowly won, joy washed over Cindy, excitement over her husband-which was unusual. Normally for McCain, the relief of not losing was a more powerful emotion than the thrill of winning. But South Carolina was different. It was about vindication, about slaying demons, about putting paid to the past. McCain wasn't a drinker, but that night, there was champagne.

Yet the sweetness of South Carolina lasted only a few hours. McCain now faced what everyone expected would be the decisive primary of the season: Florida, on January 29. With Huckabee and Giuliani effectively finished, McCain was finally going one-on-one against the rival he most disdained, Romney. If McCain prevailed in Florida, the nomination would be his. But if he lost, he would be heading into Super Tuesday mortally wounded, facing a candidate with tens of millions of dollars in personal wealth and little apparent reluctance to spend it.

For the next ten days, Romney campaigned like a conservative incarnation of Bill Clinton circa 1992. "The economy, stupid" was his leitmotif. McCain talked of little besides Iraq, slamming Romney-in a dishonest way-for wanting to prematurely withdraw American troops. (Earlier in the year, Romney had said he favored "a private timetable" for drawing down U.S. forces.) But by the weekend before the vote, the polls remained razor-edge close. McCain and Romney were in a dead heat.

Both men had long hoped that Charlie Crist would be their ticket to ride in the Suns.h.i.+ne State. But after all the hide-and-seek of 2007, Crist seemed to have decided to sit out the primary. "I'm not going to endorse anybody; whoever's going to win is going to win," he told his adviser LeMieux on the Friday night before the Tuesday primary. The a.s.surance quickly went out from Cristworld to the Republican candidates: Charlie wasn't going to put his finger on the scale.

The next day, however, Crist, out sailing with his fiancee, felt a pang of conscience. The governor's internal polling showed McCain slipping as Romney poured money into the state. Crist harkened back to the endors.e.m.e.nt McCain had given him in 2006. The guy's been really good to me The guy's been really good to me, he thought. I can't leave my friend behind. I can't leave my friend behind.

The following night, McCain was in St. Petersburg for the Pinellas County Lincoln Day Dinner. Crist was slated to introduce him. Upstairs in McCain's suite at the Hilton where the event was being held, he asked John for a word alone-and told him he would be endorsing him at the dinner downstairs in a few minutes.

Crist's intervention propelled McCain to a five-point win in Florida. The other Republican candidates and their advisers may have seen Charlie as a liar, a manipulator, and a no-account betrayer, but he was all right with John. To Crist's betrothed on primary night, McCain said, "G.o.d bless him."

THE NEXT THREE WEEKS may have been the most glorious of McCain's political career. After Florida, much of his party fell into formation and smartly saluted him. Giuliani dropped out the next day and threw his backing to McCain. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Texas governor Rick Perry climbed on board the day after that. McCain's face graced the cover of Time Time, above the tagline "The Phoenix." And on February 5, Super Tuesday, he racked up a clutch of big-state wins-California, Illinois, New Jersey, New York-that put him within shouting distance of clinching the nomination.

And yet there was still one enemy lurking that potentially had the power to hang McCain: The New York Times. The New York Times. The only questions were whether the Iseman story was in fact a noose around his neck, and whether the paper would ever try to cinch it tight. The only questions were whether the Iseman story was in fact a noose around his neck, and whether the paper would ever try to cinch it tight.

All along, Schmidt had a.s.sumed that the piece would eventually run. The Times Times had invested too much time and effort in pursuing the matter just to let it drop. He was even more certain when, over the weekend of February 16 and 17, the campaign heard that had invested too much time and effort in pursuing the matter just to let it drop. He was even more certain when, over the weekend of February 16 and 17, the campaign heard that The New Republic The New Republic was working on its own story about the internal deliberations at the was working on its own story about the internal deliberations at the Times Times over whether to publish the opus. There was no way the over whether to publish the opus. There was no way the Times Times would let itself be scooped or embarra.s.sed, Schmidt believed. The Iseman story was coming and coming soon, Schmidt told McCain. would let itself be scooped or embarra.s.sed, Schmidt believed. The Iseman story was coming and coming soon, Schmidt told McCain.

On February 20, it came. Just hours before the piece went live on the Web, Schmidt and Salter learned from the Times Times that it was being posted and was set to run in the paper the next day. McCain and his wife were campaigning in Toledo, Ohio. Schmidt and Salter had to get there fast. They raced to Reagan airport in Was.h.i.+ngton, but their flight was delayed, so they grabbed a plane to Detroit instead, rented a car, and drove the sixty miles south. Along the way, they studied the story on their BlackBerrys. that it was being posted and was set to run in the paper the next day. McCain and his wife were campaigning in Toledo, Ohio. Schmidt and Salter had to get there fast. They raced to Reagan airport in Was.h.i.+ngton, but their flight was delayed, so they grabbed a plane to Detroit instead, rented a car, and drove the sixty miles south. Along the way, they studied the story on their BlackBerrys.

It ran to more than three thousand words, the majority devoted to McCain's dealings with lobbyists. But the story also contended that, in 1999, some of McCain's aides and advisers had confronted him over an alleged affair with Iseman, and that McCain had "acknowledged behaving inappropriately and pledged to keep his distance" from her. It also recounted the Weaver-Iseman dustup, with Weaver confirming by email and on the record that he had told Vicki to stay away from John. Weaver's chief concern, he said, was that Iseman had been bragging to others that she had professional sway over McCain, which threatened the senator's image as a reformer.

It was nearly midnight when Schmidt and Salter finally reached Toledo. They found the McCains in their hotel suite. Cindy was distraught, had clearly been weeping. John was hardly in better shape. He said he was sure the campaign was over. That the story wasn't politically survivable. That he wouldn't be the nominee.

"I don't know how we get through this," McCain said.

Schmidt was having none of it.

"This is going to be fine," he said. "The story is outrageous. Someone's going to get crushed on this, and it's going to be The New York Times!' The New York Times!'

Emphatically, Schmidt laid out his plan for a counterattack. First thing the next morning, McCain would hold a press conference for the reporters traveling with him, Cindy by his side. We're not going to put a clock on this, Schmidt said. You're going to take every question. You'll deny the story, you'll express your unhappiness with the Times Times, and you'll do it in the proper tone. "You can't get up there looking p.i.s.sed off," Schmidt said. "You have to be measured in the response."

Although both McCains were furious at Weaver for having gone on the record in the story, Salter told McCain that he had to speak positively about his former wingman at the press conference; they needed to avoid giving Weaver an excuse to peddle anything further to the press. As for Iseman, they all agreed that McCain should call her a friend, which was what he said she was.

The next morning, John and Cindy met the press. In a dark suit, blue s.h.i.+rt, and blue tie, McCain performed to his advisers' precise specifications. He was calm. He was collected. He showed not the slightest flash of even the mildest annoyance. He answered many questions with a simple yes or no. He said that Weaver was a friend. And that the same was true of Iseman.

Asked about the Times Times, he said, "This whole story is based on anonymous sources . . . I'm very disappointed in that."

The press conference not only achieved its intended effect but had some ancillary benefits. McCain never believed he would see the day when the raving right rallied around him in unison, yet that was what was happening now. Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Laura Ingraham-every one of them scorned McCain. Yet within hours, they'd all hastened to his defense, because they hated the Times Times even more. ("For the first time in history, John McCain won talk radio," Charlie Black drolly observed.) even more. ("For the first time in history, John McCain won talk radio," Charlie Black drolly observed.) The McCainiacs had feared that the Times Times story would open up the Pandora's box that was the senator's personal life. Although story would open up the Pandora's box that was the senator's personal life. Although The Was.h.i.+ngton Post The Was.h.i.+ngton Post and and Newsweek Newsweek promptly ran their own similar anonymously sourced versions of the Iseman tale, the stories disappeared without a trace. The unequivocal denials of McCain and Iseman, and the criticism of the promptly ran their own similar anonymously sourced versions of the Iseman tale, the stories disappeared without a trace. The unequivocal denials of McCain and Iseman, and the criticism of the Times Times for venturing into tabloid territory, produced the same dynamic as had the paper's 2006 piece on the Clintons' marriage: the Gray Lady was forced to play defense, and McCain a.s.sumed the self-righteous pose of the aggrieved. Never again would the campaign face another serious press inquiry about the candidate's personal life. for venturing into tabloid territory, produced the same dynamic as had the paper's 2006 piece on the Clintons' marriage: the Gray Lady was forced to play defense, and McCain a.s.sumed the self-righteous pose of the aggrieved. Never again would the campaign face another serious press inquiry about the candidate's personal life.

In defusing the Iseman story, McCain cleared the final remaining obstacle to his nomination. But the victory came at a cost. For two years, McCain's relations.h.i.+p with the media had been souring, but this turned things from sour to rancid-at least in his mind, where it counted. The campaign's dealings with the Times Times in particular would never be the same again, either. There was no turning back, no way to restore even a modic.u.m of trust with the most important print outlet in the country. in particular would never be the same again, either. There was no turning back, no way to restore even a modic.u.m of trust with the most important print outlet in the country.

HAVING DODGED BULLET AFTER bullet, McCain clinched his party's nomination on March 4 by winning the primaries in Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Vermont, and concluding one of the greatest political comebacks in modern American history. The next morning, he flew from Dallas to Was.h.i.+ngton to have lunch at the White House and claim his first reward: the endors.e.m.e.nt of one of the least popular Republicans in the country. The task of simultaneously embracing and maintaining sufficient distance from George W. Bush presented McCain with his initial political challenge as the presumptive nominee. He handled it awkwardly, garbling his words as he told reporters in the Rose Garden, "I intend to have as much possible campaigning events together as is in keeping with the president's heavy schedule."

The weeks between March and June, when the general election would unofficially begin, should have been a period of enormous opportunity for McCain. His approval rating, according to Gallup, was 67 percent, as high as it had ever been. In head-to-head polling matchups, he was running even with both Obama, by then the likely Democratic nominee, and Clinton. The two Democrats were pummeling each other, spending many tens of millions of dollars to do it, and the rancor in their party was growing every day. McCain, on the other hand, had an extended period to regroup after more than a year of chaos. He had won the nomination with no money, no organization, no well-defined message, and no sophisticated strategy. Now he had a chance to acquire all those things. The question was whether he would even try.

On April 2, McCain arrived in Annapolis, Maryland, for one of the stops along his weeklong "Service to America" biography tour. The idea was for him to travel to places of significance in his life story, reintroducing himself to voters and redefining his image. He would visit his high school in Alexandria, Virginia; military installations in Mississippi and Florida where he'd been based; his political HQ in Arizona; and Annapolis, which he entered as a plebe in 1954. After leading the pledge of allegiance at a local diner, where sc.r.a.pple-scarfing patrons huddled in booths beneath a sign that read "DELICIOUS PANCAKES, MAPLE SYRUP, MARGARINE," he arrived at a grander setting: the Navy football stadium. But no throng of mids.h.i.+pmen-c.u.m-McCainiacs surrounded the candidate on the podium. In front of him instead were sixty folding chairs occupied by wizened dignitaries; behind him were thirty-five thousand seats, occupied by no one.

McCain was cranky about the setting. "What is going on with this?" he asked his aides. But the speech was hardly better than the TV pictures. He sought to explain how a callow, shallow h.e.l.lion had become a man of honor. At the academy, McCain said, he was "childish" and p.r.o.ne to "petty acts of insubordination." But then came the horrors he suffered in Vietnam, and the lessons Annapolis had sought to teach him took hold.

"It changed my life forever," McCain said. "I had found my cause: citizens.h.i.+p in the greatest nation on earth." But his next sentence- "What is lost, in a word, is citizens.h.i.+p"-sounded like a non sequitur, and that's because it was. The prompter was at fault: it had devoured a page of his script.

Nevertheless, McCain's consiglieri professed themselves pleased with the tour. "It was open-field running for us," McKinnon told a reporter. "While the Democrats continued to attack each other and claw their way to the bottom, McCain was able to communicate a positive message and create a compelling narrative about the values he learned growing up that make him best qualified to be president."

But for many Republicans, the biography tour began to instill pessimism about the party's nominee. McCain had failed to drive a message. He had failed to bore in on the weaknesses of Obama. He had failed to make news of any kind. The press coverage of the tour was perfunctory when not derisory. On The Daily Show The Daily Show, Jon Stewart dubbed it the "Monsters of Nostalgia Tour," cracking that it had "all the allure of an Atlantic City senior citizens' outing without all the awkward s.e.xual tension."

Republicans worried, too, that McCain's organization was ramping up far too sluggishly. Although its leaders.h.i.+p-Black, Davis, McKinnon, Salter, and Schmidt-was well regarded, it seemed stretched too thin. The campaign had just four full-time finance staffers and no significant online fund-raising presence. In March, it brought in a mere $4 million over the Web and through direct mail.

But the greatest Republican concern was about McCain himself: that in selecting a septuagenarian senator more comfortable in Was.h.i.+ngton than anywhere else, a dark-humored war hero with a distinctly premodern sensibility, a man who thought that being on Meet the Press Meet the Press was more important than going to church-actually, that being on the show was more important than going to church-actually, that being on the show was was going to church-the party had chosen Bob Dole all over again. going to church-the party had chosen Bob Dole all over again.

The comparison seemed all too vivid, and its implications all too dire, on the night of June 3. As Obama celebrated having locked up his party's nomination, McCain delivered a televised speech that made Republican hearts sink across the land. In front of an unsightly green backdrop, he stammered through an uninspiring and uninspired text. His people knew it was a disaster from the moment he took the podium; they prayed the cable networks would cut away.

The general election was now upon McCain. In his three unmolested months, he had accomplished next to nothing. His organization was still too small. He was still in the poorhouse. He still had no real message and no clear strategy.

McCain wasn't happy about any of this. But panicked he was not. The guerilla approach had won him the nomination. Why couldn't it work against Obama?

PART III.

Chapter Eighteen.

Paris and Berlin.