BBC NEWS | The Reporters

Fighting to the end

Matthew Price
4 Nov 08, 03:38 AM GMT

Phoenix, Arizona: By the time the sun rises over the dusty, dry landscape around Phoenix, Arizona, on election day, the sand will have run out.

There will be no more time for an October (or November) surprise. There will be no more time to sway the voters. There will be no more time full-stop.

The McCain latex masks will be marked down in price. The Rocky theme tune CD that he strides out to will be put back in its case. Joe the Plumber will vanish down the plug hole.

All there will be left is the voter, a curtain drawn behind them, deciding the fate of the man who, in his own well-worn phrase, has devoted his life to his country since the age of 17.

This is a man who by his own admission has lived in the shadow of his father and grandfather for his entire life. A man whose autobiography - written some time ago - suggests he may not yet have fulfilled his own aspirations to honour, as he sees it, the family name.

Perhaps that is why, in the face of such overwhelming odds, he does not give up. There may have been moments where his campaign seemed to change tack with alarming regularity, suggesting to some a lack of leadership at the helm. Yet John McCain has kept his belief alive, just as he did all those years ago as a prisoner-of-war.

So today, as that sun rises over Arizona, I imagine he will look out the window, stretch the arms that remain stiff from the torture he once endured, and relish his last chance to draw a few people over to his side. He is a determined man. That much has become clear in the past 18 months.

As John McCain's plane flew into Indianapolis for one of his last rallies, and taxied right to the edge of a crowd of perhaps 2,000, I thought back to those pictures from a year ago, of the senator for Arizona wheeling his own bags through an airport. His campaign was out of money, he was a loser, a no-chancer.

Yet in Indiana, under hot November sunshine, as "the Mac" strode on to the steps, and walked down towards the podium, he was most certainly back. He is enjoying these final hours.

Can he do it? He has two (slim) chances as I see it.

The first is that his campaign manager is actually right when he says that in some states, where McCain is still competitive (Colorado, New Mexico, Florida, places like that) the undecided voter will turn out for him in the end. This assumes that the polls are right when they say that anything up to 9% of voters in these states are undecided. It also assumes they will go to the polling station. It assumes too they will vote there for McCain.

The second is that voters have been lying to the pollsters. That the polls are wrong. That race will be the deciding factor in this election. Americans like to be seen (in public) to back a winner. If the latent racism in this country is greater than I think it is, then we may be in for a surprise.

That is certainly the fear of the African-American man who helped to load our 23 bags of television kit on to the conveyor belt at Indianapolis airport a few hours ago. He had voted early, last week.

When I told him that I was following John McCain, he paused, then - to a giggle from the check-in women - said: "How's the old man holding up?"

"I think he's losing at the moment," I replied.

"I've been in America too long to believe it until I see it," he said.

So although it wouldn't please the staff at check-in, John McCain does - in the minds of some - have a chance left.

I suspect though that Mr McCain, a man who is so committed to his country, who believes in its sense of fairness, its honour, its dignity, would take no joy in winning an election, simply because his fellow citizens did not want to vote for a black man.

Comments

1. At 06:55am on 04 Nov 2008, Merthyrmiddleeast wrote:
A fitting closing piece for your coverage of the McCain campaign, Matthew.

I just hope that Obama wins by a landslide so that McCain can take a well-earned and, some would argue, long overdue retirement.

After the dust has settled, it will be fascinating to watch (eventually!) the way that the Republican Party deals with this. Is the She-Bush (thanks Jon Stewart) really the best they can offer?

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2. At 07:39am on 04 Nov 2008, AndyW35 wrote:
Yes, another excellent piece and another thing, like Joe the plumber going down the plug hole (smirk) we shall miss.

McCain is a decent chap and tough as well, people have said about his age but he's done mighty well in a gruelling campaign and shown no sign of flagging or tiring.

I'm still not convinced he will lose, but that will be a travesty if he does not due to the feat spread by the US right wing

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3. At 07:44am on 04 Nov 2008, akaTurkish_delight wrote:
Dear Mr Price,

Thank you for your articulate, well thought out and fair message about the likelihood of John McCain winning the US Presidential elections.

You were right to pick up on clues as to how he is not the best man for the job when you wrote, "his campaign seemed to change tack with alarming regularity, suggesting to some a lack of leadership at the helm." Constant indecision, lack of leadership, mediocrity, blundering mistakes and ineptitude are hardly sought after prerequisites in a candidate who is applying for any sort of position let alone the highly responsible position of the President of the United States of America.

With his shock of snowy white hair and his diminutive and shrunken stature together with the hissing sound produced by his dentures when he speaks which effects the timbre of his voice, McCain looks and acts like a character out of the British soap opera "Dad's Army". I would rather have a Harvard educated, articulate, young, prescient, inspirational leader like Obama any day, particularly today, the 4th November 2008.

You also wrote, "That race will be the deciding factor in this election. Americans like to be seen (in public) to back a winner. If the latent racism in this country is greater than I think it is, then we may be in for a surprise." I totally agree with your sentiments. The bottom line is that McCain supporters appear to have a stereotypical image in their minds of what someone who is the President of the United States of America should look like and that person in their mind is not black. All other arguments such as he is too European, too Socialist, too different appear to stem from this single underlying issue of race.

They need to question their entrenched attitutes towards race and racism. What happened to equal opportunity? Why pass up the chance to elect the best candidate for the post of President solely on the basis of race?

We need to embrace difference. As the English poet William Cowper said, "Variety's the very spice of life, That gives it all its flavour".

I feel we are on the brink of history here. I sincerely hope that the American people think carefully before they cast their vote - it is of the utmost importance.

The results of the American election is not just contained within the territorial borders of America. It will have an impact on the rest of the world. Hence the reason for the international media coverage. America is a superpower and thus major events which happen there have repercussions in every other country in the world. So, I say to the people of America, the whole world is watching you and relying on you to make an informed decision.

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4. At 08:53am on 04 Nov 2008, Merthyrmiddleeast wrote:
Nice one Turkish.

Unfortunately, the US is full of their own equivalents of 'little Englanders', isolationist folk who disregard what goes on outside their own borders.

Sarah Palin has only recently got herself a passport.

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5. At 08:59am on 04 Nov 2008, Cartponybefore wrote:
Bravo, Matt. I think if it was just one poll showing Obama ahead you would take it with a pinch of salt but you have 6 or 7 national polls showing him with at least a 5 point lead, released every day for the last month. Add to that, the polling in VA,CO, PA, FL, OH, etc- on average 2/3 polls a day have been coming out of those states for the last month. About a thousand polls would have to be wrong, not just one. The odds are miniscule, microscopic.

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6. At 09:01am on 04 Nov 2008, Cartponybefore wrote:
The real question is how long it takes the Republicans to recover from a blowout- how long it takes for them to get behind Jindal, namely.

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7. At 09:07am on 04 Nov 2008, dhimmi wrote:
Yawn

More "OMG THE ONLY REASON OBAMA LOST IS BECAUSE OF RACISM NEVERMIND THAT ALL THE BLACK VOTERS VOTED FOR HIM SOLELY BECAUSE HE IS BLACK" whining

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8. At 09:12am on 04 Nov 2008, Jordan D wrote:
If he does lose, Obama could do a lot worse than make McCain SecState.

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9. At 09:30am on 04 Nov 2008, Merthyrmiddleeast wrote:
"If he does lose, Obama could do a lot worse than make McCain SecState."

How can he if he loses? You mean win?

Interesting idea. He could also do a lot better!

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10. At 09:47am on 04 Nov 2008, collie21 wrote:
Let us not loose sight, that Obama has broken fund raising records. Meaning people have given him money. Now they will want a return on their investment. I can't see anything changing on the result itself of this election. It's what happens later that is pertinent. If the Republicans win, will there be a uprising in America of those who know they should have won? I don't think so. I think the US Citizenry are as controlled if not more so than the Soviet Citizenry. George Orwells 1984 is alive a well and is the United States of America. United only in Name. In another 4 years we could ( I hope not ) be looking at President Palin running for a second term...especially as Mr McCain would be the perfect fall guy for a heart attack, liver failure etc;

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11. At 09:55am on 04 Nov 2008, dj1979 wrote:
"stretch the arms that remain stiff from the torture he once endured"

McCain's stiff arms are a result of his catapulting over Vietnam. He was most probably not treated properly for those wounds, but still it was not torture that hurt him in the first place.

This post is certainly not about diminishing McCain's life. It's just about getting the facts straight.

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12. At 10:00am on 04 Nov 2008, Adam_C_UK wrote:
The polls wrote off the Conservatives in the British general election of 1992, right up to polling day. EVEN THE EXIT POLLS said that the Tories had lost. Actually of course they had won a comfortable victory, and it was a pleasure to watch the BBC squirming thoughout election night and beyond to explain why their confident predictions of Labour victory were wrong.

It's not over til it's over!

Personally I can't believe that Americans would pick a lightweight like Obama over a serious, honourable and gutsy man like John McCain. And yeah, Sarah Palin still reminds me of Margaret Thatcher...

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13. At 10:10am on 04 Nov 2008, Johnstoun wrote:
#7

Do you resent that women backed Hillary?
Do you care that Dems get 90% of the black vote regardless of their color?
Do you think that Obama's lead would be greater if he were white?

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14. At 10:48am on 04 Nov 2008, AndyW35 wrote:
#12 Pailin reminds you of Margeret Thatcher? How so?

Pailin plays on her background, brings her family to events, tries to find common ground with the female supporters. Thatcher downplayed her background, didn't need to find common ground with women etc and certainly didn't promote her family life.

She was a lot more astute and policially savvy as well.She's actually more like Obama, but without the same policies.

Regards

Andy

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15. At 10:57am on 04 Nov 2008, googlyblogger wrote:
Great coverage of the McCain campaign Matthew - I've read the transcripts of the last couple of speeches and have to admire the man for fighting to the end!

Think you'll enjoy the US election blog wrap-up covering the election day strategies for McCain and Obama in cartoon format on Wonkie (check out http://www.wonkie.com/2008/11/04/election-day-strategies-republicans-and-democrats/ ) If nothing else, the US elections have provided a fair amount of comic relief to the rest of the world!

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16. At 11:12am on 04 Nov 2008, Merthyrmiddleeast wrote:
Palin like Thatcher? How? Thatcher had a degree in Chemistry and, despite her faults, a genunine intellect.

Remember how well she handled herself at PMQs. Anyone see Palin do something similar? It would require her to at least partially answer the question!

Did you mean Mark Thatcher perhaps. NOw there you might have a point. I could see Palin plotting military coups too.

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17. At 11:13am on 04 Nov 2008, Adam_C_UK wrote:
#14

Sarah Palin reminds me of Margaret Thatcher because she challenges the received political wisdom, she is absolutely an outsider who is pretty much contemptuous of the political elite. Who of course return the contempt, just like they did with Thatcher!

I don't agree that Thatcher downplayed her background - in fact she drew on it for inspiration. Remember her comparisons between the government budget and a "housewife" making ends meet? I don't see any evidence of Palin "trying to find common ground with the female supporters" - her gender isn't really an issue in the election except to media commentators.

And Thatcher, just like Palin, was thought to be "inexperienced" - until she steamrollered the opposition and dominated British politics for a decade.

I REALLY don't see any comparison between Obama and Thatcher. Obama's great at oratory and marketing himself, but where's the substance behind it all? Thatcher wasn't particularly great at speechmaking, but the substance was there in spades.

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18. At 11:36am on 04 Nov 2008, nomorefakenews wrote:
Fighting to the end?

why? They both now whats about to happen in the next term...bush jr signed the "north american union" (like the EU)into law on 23march 2005 in waco texas with a single currency the "amero".....

kind regards
nomorefakenews

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19. At 12:03pm on 04 Nov 2008, glueonhair wrote:
Adam C?, i guess that you are a brit, do me a favour chief, and get a reality check, "reminds me of Margaret Thatcher"? really? I and many others are still reeling from that woman's decision, to create an I,Me,Mine atmosphere, and an overwhelming sense of desperation in the country i used to consider the greatest place on earth!Mrs. Palin reminds me of an over exuberant, middle aged, school run mum, who is of dubious intellect, cannot answer the simplest relevant political question, unless briefed beforehand, how on earth this woman was elected to anything other than maybe barbeque cook is beyond me!I mean i take issue with all my heart with just about everything you say in your post. It's nonsense to suggest that Obama is a lightweight, apart from anything else it's a typical republican slur, say anything do anything to sway the voter!In addition what are "serious" candidates doing appearing on SNL (Saturday Night Live), a comedy show of varying quality? It wasn't because McPain/Palin saw it as a bit of fun, it was free publicity for their campaign, nothing else.I'd be careful who i called "Lightweight" here.McCain opted to accept government funding for his bid for the presidency, then whines and whinges when Obama raises so much money from his supporters, because he didn't !I'm a brit living in Canada, which is quite close enough to the racists and bigots that permeate that jerry springer type audience, thank you VERY much,you base your opinions on absolutely no evidence whatsoever.It's not clever and it's not fair to the growing majority of people who actually live there, and support Senator Obama.Well i suppose it is if one is actually a racist or a bigot hmmm?

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20. At 12:38pm on 04 Nov 2008, bennfuji wrote:
If McCain had played the campaign the same way he played Saturday Night Live last week, then it's quite likely the Fun Guy would be about to beat the Boring Man today ... but then, in 2016, Americans would be arguing about the best way to get their sons out of Iran ...

Obama for President: the rest of the world deserves it.

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21. At 12:42pm on 04 Nov 2008, CaptainInvisible wrote:
... blah, blah, blah ... oven chips ... blah, blah ...

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22. At 12:52pm on 04 Nov 2008, The Notting Hill Hammer wrote:

I suspect though that Mr McCain, a man who is so committed to his country, who believes in its sense of fairness, its honour, its dignity, would take no joy in winning an election, simply because his fellow citizens did not want to vote for a black man.

.....................

I usually praise the BBC for its objectivity, please get a grip. This sycophantic portrayal of McCain is so far from the truth as to be risible. He has run one of the most negative campaign in history in order to cast "that one" as alien to the USA. McCain would not give a damn how he won if he won. The man is an opportunist.

Talk about agency capture!!

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23. At 1:19pm on 04 Nov 2008, 1european wrote:
The POTUS job is arguably very different from what any of the four did up to now, so I find the arguments about "experience" rather moot on all sides. However, running the campaign IS quite relevant to the future job: it requires inspiring huge masses of fellow citizens to a higher goal, and it requires a real executive skill if you realize that the armies of volunteers are comparable in size or bigger than the largest US corporations.
In this respect, Obama's stellar organization of his campaign shows him to be the better choice for the C-in-C.

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24. At 1:28pm on 04 Nov 2008, Methody1972 wrote:
I think McCain's stroke of genius was selecting Palin, she is a better choice than both Candidates and at least McCain saw that as the only way to get elected. The next 5 years most certainly will be unpredictable as far as global politics and crises to manage, I am not sure that McCain or Obama will be able to provide the leadership needed. We will see a step change shift in how the world deals with it's issues and McCain cannot give that, Obama would be treading on eggshells, Palin would rise to the challenge.

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25. At 2:04pm on 04 Nov 2008, stavrosthesheep wrote:
12.

"And yeah, Sarah Palin still reminds me of Margaret Thatcher..."

Given MT's current mental capacity, I can see where you're coming from.

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26. At 2:17pm on 04 Nov 2008, vickersone wrote:
A good article about a good and honourable candidate. Unfortunately for GOP their best candidate was the inelligable governor of California.
How they react to defeat will be interesting. Will they go for brains and capablility (ie Bobby Jindal, whose name probably isnt "American enough") or fall back upon the Palinites?
The former would involve much reflection and a reassessment of the pervading view that "intellectuals" are part of the problem (a policy started by GHW Bush).
The latter is the easy option. Seek certainty and security (and what could be more certain than the Rapture?) in your heartland and oblivion awaits.

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27. At 2:38pm on 04 Nov 2008, rwbennett wrote:
THIS ELECTION, November 4, 2008 will never be over. The battle lines have been drawn very sharpely and the fight is on. Neither cadidate was the choice of most Americans, but now the world can openly see how American, behind the scenes "politics" really works. This is no longer "British democracy", there is too much money that rules the day here. As you can see the money comes in first, the people get to vote on the left overs. The REAL RULERS OF THE USA ARE ALL BUT INVISABLE. The BIG STORY now is that American thinking and actions will never be the same no matter who becomes our President---both are flawed beyond reason. The only suggestion I want to share is rather than open civil war, true Americans can strart searching for a new destiny outside the structure of the historic and traditional United States of America we loved and grew up with. Nothing ever stays the same over time, we have great and lasting values in America, but the world does not understand or care for them. Somehow US citizens must avoid becoming like the minority of grumbling British conservatives and find new and valuable ways to grow strong, lead, and be wise. I will be the first to say I am greatly troubled by this, it is not my choice, but the facts must be faced and the piper must be paid. It now looks like this must be a worldwide effort, and while I can STILL say it openly...God Bless America!

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28. At 2:40pm on 04 Nov 2008, JimGIBBOJimGIBBO wrote:
I vehemently disagree with your conclusion, Matthew, that an upset means that the level of racism in the USA is greater than you think. Can you not see that political correctness and the enormous bias of the mainstream media (which is now nothing more than a propaganda machine of the leftist elite) has had and is having the same effect on previously truly free Western men that Nazism had on virtually the whole of Germany's population and that fear rather than racism may be behind any lies people might say about their voting intentions?

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29. At 2:42pm on 04 Nov 2008, DeSaxe44 wrote:
Because Brutus is an Honourable man.

Thus wrote Shakespeare in "Juluis Caeser", perhaps His most political Play.

Shakespeare's play is about the transformation of a Republic into an Empire, amongst other, no less important, issues.

Today, we are witnessing, a possible unique experience. THE TRANSFORMATION of an EMPIRE into a REPUBLIC.

And I say unique, because all the previous Empires, and the World has seen too many came an go, were terminated by Revolutions, defeats by Enemy Empires, or Colapse, which may take the forms of Economical or Finantial colapse, more often than not, both..

If Mr. Barack Obama suceeds, and we cannot tell that before Autumn 2010, it means that Humankind, finally understood that we cannot be predators of our own kin...

I do not believe, il will happen, so soon..

Ir will take a complete destruction of "Western individualism" by "Eastern Tolerance".

The Chinese will have the last word...
In something like 20 to 50 years from now!!.

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30. At 2:43pm on 04 Nov 2008, AAlvinTwiningham wrote:
I hope the prospect of the further "Palinization" of the GOP forces the moderates to break off and form a real party. I am sick and tired of the anti-intellectual, bible thumping leanings of my (soon to be former) party who think it is better to pander to the lowest common denominator than to try to educate and improve them.

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31. At 2:52pm on 04 Nov 2008, coresme2 wrote:
Palin reminds you of Mrs T? Give me a break!! Mrs Thatcher was one of the greatest leaders of our country of all time, worldly in her views and aspirations. She transformed England for the better and made us proud again to be British after Labour and the unions virtually destroyed the country in the 70's.

This provincial, uneducated and anti-intellectual twerp Sarah palin is a small fish in a big pond, overly reliant on her folksy tone and vague in her answers. She appeals to the same dullards that voted for Bush and inspires only ignorance and jingoism in her wake. Hopefully this defeat for the republicans will persuade them to get back towards reason, logic andn intelligence rather than counter productive rule by fear and taking one man's simple ignorance and projecting it abroad to damage the world and its view of the US.

I don't particularly think that much of Obama, but looking at the way he has lived his life in sharp comparison to McCain, I can see who is the most honourable of the two and the most deserving of the highest office in the land. If in doubt, read Rolling Stone's article on McCain. Its not so much character assassination as electoral illumination.

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32. At 3:23pm on 04 Nov 2008, akaTurkish_delight wrote:
Here are extracts from an article which was published in The International Herald Tribune on 10 October entitled, "One bomb after another" by Garrison Keillor.

"It was dishonest, cynical men who put forward a clueless young woman for national office, hoping to juice up the ticket, hoping she could skate through two months of chaperoned campaigning, but the truth emerges: The lady is talking freely about matters she has never thought about. The American people have an ear for untruths. They can tell when someone's mouth is moving and the clutch is not engaged.

When she said, "One thing that Americans do at this time, also, though, is let's commit ourselves just every day, American people, Joe Six-Pack, hockey moms across the nation, I think we need to band together and say never again. Never will we be exploited and taken advantage of again by those who are managing our money and loaning us these dollars," people smelled gas.

Some Republicans adore her because they are pranksters at heart and love the consternation of grown-ups. The ne'er-do-well son of the old Republican family as president, the idea that you increase government revenue by cutting taxes, the idea that you cut social services and thereby drive the needy into the middle class, the idea that you overthrow a dictator with a show of force and achieve democracy at no cost to yourself - one stink bomb after another, and now Governor Sarah Palin.

She is a chatty sportscaster who lacks the guile to conceal her vacuity, and she was John McCain's first major decision as nominee. This troubles independent voters, and now she is a major drag on his candidacy. She will get a nice book deal from Regnery and a new career-making personal appearances for 40 grand a pop, and she'll become a trivia question, "What politician claimed foreign-policy expertise based on being able to see Russia from her house?" And the rest of us will have to pull ourselves out of the swamp of Republican economics.

Your broker kept saying, "Stay with the portfolio, don't jump ship," and you felt a strong urge to dump the stocks and get into the money market where at least you're not going to lose your shirt, but you didn't do it and didn't do it, and now you're holding a big bag of brown bananas. Me, too. But at least I know enough not to believe desperate people who are talking trash. Anybody who got whacked last week and still thinks McCain-Palin is going to lead America out of the swamp and not into a war with Iran is beyond persuasion in the English language. They'll need to lose their homes and be out on the street in a cold, hard rain before they connect the dots."

If after reading this people can still compare Sarah Palin with Margaret Thatcher, well, I think you clearly are delusional.

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33. At 3:30pm on 04 Nov 2008, sad_old_pedant wrote:
Nice article but you definitely need to lose the comma before "simply" in the last sentence. McCain would definitely take plenty of joy in winning the election, and it's not a certainty that huge numbers of his fellow citizens weren't prepared to vote for a black man.

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34. At 4:04pm on 04 Nov 2008, Gary_A_Hill wrote:
Honor? Dignity? McCain may not wish to win on account of racism, but he seems perfectly willing to win with a campaign of lies.

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35. At 4:08pm on 04 Nov 2008, Gary_A_Hill wrote:
Jordan D (#8), we've never had a Secretary of State with a bad temper, in my recollection, and we are sure not going to have one under Obama.

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36. At 4:22pm on 04 Nov 2008, tadhg37 wrote:
Having spent a year in the US a few years ago, I find your comments to show the true day-to-day perceptions of the American's we don't see on holiday.
For all the commentary on latent racial discrimination that I see everywhere I see very little mention of both the latent and overt age discrimination that I feel is a real factor in the election. If John McCain were 10 years younger the outcome could well be different.

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37. At 4:51pm on 04 Nov 2008, AAlvinTwiningham wrote:
I don't know how widespread a problem age discrimination is here in the US. Most people I talk to (even Repubs like me) are scared to death of a possible Palin presidency though, which did make McCain's age much more of an issue than it was before.

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