Word: mccains
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...While the success of real-people politicos McCain and Bush has been attributed to popular resentment for the status quo, the media is probably as responsible for the phenomenon as anybody. By June the races in both parties appeared to be over. Bush had scared off nearly every serious challenger with his immense war chest, which then stood at $35 million - more than the rest of the Republican presidential candidates combined, and by far the largest pre-election-year sum ever raised by a candidate. Gore, meanwhile, was keeping ahead of Bradley by using the many advantages of the vice...
...then Bradley and McCain surged. In part this was simply because reporters were desperately looking around for something, anything, to write about. "The media, whether they realize it or not, do try to build a race," says TIME political correspondent Jay Carney. But they also had a compelling story to tell, that of two self-professed political mavericks who enchanted reporters simply by being positioned as the polar opposites of the front-runners: real, spontaneous and full of convictions, rather than cautious and poll-driven. The press was hooked, and that put the two underdogs squarely back in the race...
...traditionally, the party of campaign finance reform. So while Senator John McCain's insurgency may earn him a place in America's hearts as an alternative to politics-as-usual, it is unlikely to win him the Republican nomination. The senator from Arizona went mano a manowith George W. Bush on campaign finance reform during Monday night's GOP candidates' debate in Iowa, forcing the Texas governor to defend the party's reliance on corporate "soft money." But while McCain may have claimed the moral high ground, that high ground may actually be outside of the GOP's boundary fence...
...This is a fight for the Republican nomination, and many Republicans believe that campaign finance reform will hurt the GOP," says TIME Washington correspondent James Carney. "Conservatives who've always been suspicious of McCain's reform bill will be more likely to vote for Bush." In fact, Bush looked more confident and assertive compared with previous debates, and won the night by painting McCain's signature issue as being detrimental to the GOP as a whole. McCain's vow to deprive Iowa of its most cherished piece of political pork, ethanol subsidies, has also made the state hostile territory...
...That McCain felt compelled to release all this information is testimony to two things: first, to the power of the whispered allegations against him; and, second, to McCain's instinct for candor. At a holiday party last Friday night, McCain joked about how the moderators at last week's debate seemed obsessed with his temper. "They kept asking, 'Are you crazy? Are you crazy?'" Answer: No crazier than anyone else who would run for President...