The McCain equation

John McCain won’t talk about John F. Kerry.

Which is a pity for those who enjoy news of the man-bites-dog, black-is-white, day-is-night variety.

One of the last times McCain spoke publicly about his friend and Senate colleague, he said he might become Kerry’s vice presidential running mate, if the opportunity arose. Never mind the implausibility of the two -- a Southwestern moderate conservative and Northeastern moderate liberal -- comfortably coexisting in the White House. The sheer audacity of such a blending was enough to electrify insiders for a few hours last month, until McCain pulled the plug with a bland statement ruling it out.

But then, just a few days later, McCain popped up on another of the morning chat shows, this time disputing the notion that Kerry was some kind of national security wimp, as suggested in President Bush’s campaign ads. “No, I do not believe he is, quote, ‘weak on defense,’ ” McCain said of the presumptive Democratic nominee. “I don’t agree with him on some issues, clearly, but I decry the negativism that’s going on on both sides.”

That one stoked flame-throwers on the right -- many of whom loathe McCain -- who tore into the Arizona Republican for not only failing to toe the party line but also trampling all over it.

And so McCain won’t discuss Kerry (D-Mass.) these days.

“Appearing in a piece like this just adds fuel to the speculation fire,” said McCain spokesman Marshall Wittmann, explaining the senator’s refusal to be interviewed.

Leaving one to ask: What motivates McCain, who continues to beguile and irritate four years after a rollicking and, ultimately, losing bid for the Republican presidential nomination?

Is it the bond he and Kerry forged as Vietnam vets -- a former prisoner of war and former protester -- who came together to help a nation bind its wounds over the bitter conflict? “It’s the ‘Band of Brothers’ phenomenon,” said Douglas Brinkley, a University of New Orleans historian, who interviewed both for his book on Kerry’s Vietnam service. “Either you went to ‘Nam or you didn’t.”

Is it McCain’s long-standing distaste for the grubbier side of politics, the mudslinging and mooching off donors, which resulted in the campaign finance overhaul bill that bears his name? “He’s a guy who believes in trying to find common sense and the truth in politics,” said Kerry, who celebrates his friendship with McCain in the forward of “Call to Service,” his campaign book.

“He’s not interested in the rat-a-tat. He’s interested in real issues.”

Or is it McCain’s way of needling Bush and the people who put him in the White House, after a brutal primary fight that left hard feelings on both sides?

“He’s not the kind of person who goes around screaming about past injustices,” said one veteran of the 2000 campaign, who spoke anonymously because of the senator’s wish not to contribute to this article. “But John McCain knows how to get under George Bush’s skin, and he enjoys doing it.”

One thing is clear: McCain remains an unlikely political force, and not because he tries to please people. “There are two types of guys in this town: those that get ulcers and those that give ulcers,” said Scott Reed, a Washington lobbyist and Republican strategist. “John McCain is clearly the latter.”

And although some Republicans -- the Bush team among them -- “roll their eyes ... , at the end of the day they take McCain seriously,” Reed said.

Given his widespread popularity, they have little choice.

Common ground

In 1985, McCain and Kerry appeared on a public television program marking the 10th anniversary of the fall of Saigon. Among the sad legacies of the Vietnam War, McCain said, was the poison the conflict introduced into the nation’s politics. “We find people impugning each other’s patriotism, motivations [and] dedication to peace and freedom, which is totally unfortunate and demeans the level of debate,” said McCain, then a sophomore congressman.

Kerry didn’t necessarily agree. “I’m not sure that it isn’t healthy that we are asking the questions we are asking and being as inquisitive and demanding as we are,” he said.

The two were not friendly. McCain spent 5 1/2 years as a prisoner of war in Hanoi, learning of the growing antiwar movement back home from fellow POWs, who tapped out messages on his cell wall. In 1984, McCain opposed Kerry in his first race for U.S. Senate, denouncing him for tossing away his ribbons during a protest at the U.S. Capitol.

Their relationship thawed a few years later when McCain and Kerry were together on a flight to Kuwait for an inspection tour after the Persian Gulf War. The two began talking about their shared Vietnam experience, and by “daybreak we shared a new understanding -- and a new friendship,” Kerry wrote in his campaign book.

Their friendship grew during a Senate investigation that settled the touchy question of whether American prisoners were still being held in Vietnam. The work -- steeped in grief, anger and wild conspiracy theories -- was a nightmare, said Frances Zwenig, who directed the committee staff. “It was also one of the most worthwhile things any of us have ever done.”

During one particular venomous hearing, when an activist accused McCain of betraying his country and fellow veterans, Kerry laid a calming hand on his colleague’s arm.

In 1995, McCain and Kerry stood together in the White House, symbols of reconciliation, as President Clinton announced the normalization of diplomatic ties to Vietnam.

Still, for all of that, the two are leagues apart on most issues, making their political pairing seem more workable in the abstract than it probably would be in reality. As McCain put it, “It’s impossible to imagine the Democratic Party seeking a pro-life, free-trading, non-protectionist, deficit hawk.” Privately, McCain has groused that Kerry is making more of their friendship, for political sake, than he would like.

“The bottom line is that, while Sen. Kerry is a friend, Sen. McCain supports President Bush for reelection,” said Wittmann, McCain’s spokesman.

Chilly relations

The thing that makes the McCain-Kerry relationship so intriguing -- apart from the odd-bedfellows business -- is the tortured McCain-Bush relationship.

The two got along well enough during most of the 2000 primary season. Then McCain buried Bush in a New Hampshire landslide and the race headed to South Carolina, home to possibly the meanest politics in America. The contest started on the low road and quickly descended from there. Bush appeared alongside the head of a fringe group that accused McCain of abandoning the nation’s veterans. (Kerry circulated a letter signed by the Senate’s four other Vietnam vets, condemning the attack.)

The anonymous smear campaign was even uglier. McCain was accused of fathering a child with a black prostitute, and pictures of his adopted daughter, a Bangladeshi orphan, were circulated as proof. Stories of his wife’s past addiction to painkillers were also widely disseminated. McCain seethed. He also lost South Carolina, and with it any chance at the nomination. (For their part, Bush and his aides were livid over phone calls placed to Michigan voters painting Bush as anti-Catholic.) After quitting the GOP race and waiting two months, McCain finally endorsed Bush -- literally through clenched teeth. “Take the medicine now,” is how McCain described it.

Their relationship has scarcely improved since. Although McCain has sided with Bush more often than not -- he was a leading advocate of war with Iraq -- he has differed often enough to be a continued pain in the president’s backside. He opposed the 2001 tax cut at the centerpiece of Bush’s domestic agenda. He allied with Democrats seeking stiffer rules on gun show sales and new rights for medical patients. Most famously, he pushed the campaign finance legislation that bears his name -- and which Bush reluctantly signed into law. In a pointed snub, McCain was informed by a mid-level White House aide, who called him at home.

Slights like that fueled the resentment that still smolders inside many McCain loyalists. Some were insulted when the senator was asked to campaign earlier this year for Bush in New Hampshire. The result was a listless appearance, with McCain barely mentioning either Bush or the Democrats running. “You don’t ask a guy to go back to the high point of his candidacy to campaign in what is essentially a meaningless event,” griped one of the senator’s friends.

For the record, Bush campaign officials say they are pleased McCain has agreed to serve as co-chairman of the president’s Arizona effort. Bush “understands that we have a party where people can have different ideas,” said Scott Stanzel, a campaign spokesman. “But in the end, President Bush is going to work with members of Congress, including Sen. McCain, to make sure we grow the economy and have an aggressive policy to fight and win the war on terror.”

Honesty is his policy

With McCain you either take it or leave it. The quality that so aggrieves many fellow Republicans -- his willingness to state what he thinks, regardless -- is what others find so appealing.

Last week, McCain criticized Bush’s conduct of the war in Iraq, as well as the Republican Party’s stand on the environment and minority issues.

“From a partisan standpoint, I wish he wouldn’t say some of what he says,” said Tucson’s Mike Hellon, who serves on the Republican National Committee. “On the other hand, and I’ve told him this, the single most important element of his overwhelming popularity is his candor. People know when he speaks that he’s telling what he thinks without any varnish or veneer. In today’s political environment, that’s an unusual asset.”

McCain is easily the most popular politician in Arizona, polls show, and much better liked than Bush. But his greatest strength is his national appeal to Democrats and independents, those very people Bush needs to woo and win in November.

“If I were writing a memo to Ed Gillespie [the Republican Party chairman], I would tell him, ‘Be thankful you’ve got guys like John McCain,’ “said one of the senator’s closest advisors.

By swallowing hard -- taking their medicine -- Bush and his team can only hope that McCain will help more than hurt once he starts talking about Kerry again.