And you know what? It shows. He's never been through an election like this. He's never lost an election. Even more, it's never even been close.
McCain's toughest battles have been a sum total of three primary campaigns. Three. In more than 25 years in public office. The primary this year hardly counts. With a weak field, it was there for the taking. The one before this in 2000, as we all know, went on only through South Carolina before the Rove attack machine took him out. It was never a race he was going to win.
To get a real look at how McCain operates when he's truly threatened, his primary in 1982 tells the story. The formula he used then is the exact same one he uses today.
McCain first ran for office in 1982 in AZ-1, a huge district of mostly rural Arizona, that opened up when John Rhodes retired. McCain didn't live in that district, but that didn't present any kind of problem. All it took was a fast house purchase in Mesa and the race was on. He had 3 good challengers for his first primary. Here's what he did to take them out:
1st line of defense: POW status. Of course he was called out as a carpetbagger. He just trotted out that POW status -- the thing is is just so hesitant to talk about -- to kill the label. According to AZ Central, when questioned about his move to AZ-1 in order to run, McCain replied:
"Listen, pal. I spent 22 years in the Navy. My grandfather was in the Navy. We in the military service tend to move a lot. We have to live in all parts of the country, all parts of the world. I wish I could have had the luxury, like you, of growing up and living and spending my entire life in a nice place like the first district of Arizona, but I was doing other things. As a matter of fact, when I think about it now, the place I lived longest in my life was Hanoi." [Emphasis mine]
2nd line: Convenient claims of success. McCain had some powerful friends, like Senator John Tower, that he could trot out on his behalf. (Sound familiar?) He was able to claim more than his fair share of credit for a defense project headed to the Mesa area -- again with the help of John Tower. Reality just doesn't impact his ability to claim responsibility for any success.
3rd: Money from anywhere you can get it. Cindy's money, unencumbered by pesky campaign finance regulations in 1982, plus donations from cultivated sources paved the way. The thing I find curious about this when looking at the current campaign is that Cindy's money isn't in play this year. After the Clinton loan and Mitten's donation to his campaign, I find it interesting that she didn't prop up the campaign when it was on the skids during the primary.
4th: Say whatever you need to say. McCain's closest competitor in that first race in 1982, was Ray Russell, a resident of Mesa (that is, he was a resident before the district opened up, unlike McCain) who had been active in local politics. Again from AZ Central, a recent quote from Russell, who McCain beat 32% to 26% in that fateful primary:
"He really wanted that worse than anything," Russell said. "There were several issues that he flip-flopped on. He wanted to win so badly that he'd tell people whatever they wanted to hear."
5th: Get pissed and hold a grudge. Donna Carlson, one of the McCain's opponents in that first primary found out about this one. From The Arizona Republic via AZ Central:
"I had a lot of friends in Congress at the time that I ran, and some of them supported me, endorsed me or helped raise money," said Carlson, a former state legislator from Mesa who backed former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in this year's GOP presidential race. "And he never let them forget that. He always brought it up like it was something evil they had done."
So, what do you know. Everything we're seeing today started with that first primary. It's all he has to go on since all of McCain's campaigns since have been little more than a formality. He won that first election, in the middle of Reagan's first term, by 7 points. (It was highly unlikely it ever would have gone to a Democrat, so really the primary was all that mattered.) Two years later, his re-election to the House was a 78% to 22% blowout. He then won his Senate seat by 20%, was re-elected in 1992 by 24%, in 1998 by 42% and in 2004 by a whopping 56%.
The last time McCain faced any kind of real challenge, this was the world as we knew it:
• Reagan was enjoying his first term in office
• Michael Jackson released "Thriller"
• A few CDs started appearing here and there
• Madonna had her first release
• The Weather Channel started up
• And Time Magazine's Man of the Year was a new-fangled thing called a computer.
The world has changed. John McCain has not. He now finds himself in a 21st Century campaign with tools from 1982. Unfortunately, meanness doesn't have a "sell by" date and it's just as potent as it was 26 years ago. Beware. When that's the biggest gun he owns, that's the one he's going to use.