McCain Brings Gentle-Speak to N.H.

The happy warrior strode onto the battlefield like he’d never been away. Bald head shining through wisps of white hair, red face blanched a darker shade of pale by the punishing cold.

Sen. John McCain returned to New Hampshire on Monday -- pumping hands like he meant it and posing for snapshots just like he did four years ago, when he rocked the Republican establishment by throttling George W. Bush in the party’s presidential primary.

Yet McCain’s return to the scene of his greatest victory was full of ambivalence. The Arizona Republican flew in for the day to endorse his once bitter foe, President Bush. But he did so with few words. And when asked to take a few swings at the seven Democrats running to replace the president, he mustered only the most pallid critiques.

Those waiting for a zinger from the candidate celebrated in 2000 for his “straight talk” would be left wanting.

The closest he came might have been his comment that retired Gen. Wesley K. Clark just didn’t make “an intelligent comment” when he said his own service as a commanding officer was more significant than Sen. John F. Kerry’s duty as a combat lieutenant in Vietnam.

Even that glancing punch was pulled by the old fighter.

“It’s very hard to make a transition from being a general to a politician,” McCain said. “So you make mistakes. I don’t think I could go over and be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff or head of NATO, like Clark was.”

Vice President Dick Cheney had asked McCain to venture north from Washington on behalf of the Republican ticket. McCain readily agreed. After touring a Manchester restaurant Monday, he sat down in the Bush-Cheney reelection bus to talk to a handful of reporters.

“I believe President Bush has led this nation with strength and clarity since Sept. 11,” McCain said, “and I believe he has the confidence of the American people and I support his reelection.”

The 2000 campaign had been so bitter -- he accused Bush of dirty campaigning and sowing a “negative message of fear” -- that he endorsed his party’s standard-bearer through clenched teeth. But on Monday, McCain addressed the old hostility before being asked.

“The worst thing anybody can do in life and in politics is look back in anger,” McCain said, before reporters had settled into their seats. “I mean, you can’t do that and I never will. I am very happy with my life. I’m very happy with what we did here, and it’s wonderful to see old friends and that’s really all there is.”

Just as quickly, he made it clear that no amount of prodding would get him to attack the Democrats on today’s ballot. He paid particular deference to his colleagues in the Senate -- Kerry of Massachusetts, John Edwards of North Carolina and Joe Lieberman of Connecticut.

“These are all friends of mine,” McCain said. “I wish them well, particularly Edwards, Kerry and Lieberman.... I didn’t come here to criticize them.”

McCain would follow much the same script at an evening rally in Nashua.

With his partisan guns securely holstered, McCain’s New Hampshire redux became a celebration of that campaign past.

He plunged into a downtown restaurant in Manchester, pushing through a media crush so thick that waitresses had to yell at camera crews to stay off the furniture.

He greeted media heavies -- such as Weekly Standard Editor William Kristol, and “Meet the Press” host Tim Russert -- like old friends.

More than one diner called out: “Welcome back, it’s great to see you.” Even the many Democratic campaign workers in attendance seemed genuinely happy or bemused to see the Republican busting in on their electoral party.

“It’s great to have the alternative out here showing the flag,” Lou Tremblay of Hooksett, N.H., said of McCain’s presence on the eve of the Democratic primary. “It’s what he should be doing.”

His media following for the late afternoon grew so large that it rivaled those of the Democrats vying for the chance to oppose Bush.

Even hecklers who greeted McCain on the street showed a certain verve lacking during a feverish week of campaigning across the state. One wore combat fatigues and a “George ‘Chicken Hawk’ Bush” helmet, mocking Bush’s National Guard service. Another begged to know when the GOP would finally support time travel; his costume featuring a gilded codpiece in the form of a goat’s head.

The new, milder McCain pronounced it all good. “I miss it,” he said to a well-wisher on the street. “I miss it very much.”