SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN ANNOUNCES CANDIDACY FOR THE DEMOCRATIC NOMINATION FOR PRESIDENT IN 2004.
In a move that shocked many in the political world, Senator John McCain of Arizona held a rally in Phoenix today where he officially announced his intention to jump into the Democratic race for the 2004 presidential nomination. At his announcement ceremony, he assaulted President Bush for “incompetent leadership” and “making disastrous decisions that have put America on a dangerous course.” McCain claimed that he was running for president because he felt that he was the only one strong enough to unite the party lead the Democrats back into the White House in 2004, playing off the dissatisfaction within the ranks of Democratic voters that were looking for an alternative to the current crop of lackluster politicians. Senator McCain’s decision to enter the 2004 race was regarded by many news outlets as a curiosity, considering that he was a Republican for his entire political career up until he broke with the GOP after reportedly engaging in a heated shouting match with President Bush during a meeting about the Bush Tax Cuts that involved plenty of cursing and hurtful personal remarks. Ultimately, he looked good as a candidate on paper, closing the gap between him and the current frontrunner, Vermont Governor Howard Dean, almost as soon as he announced. He even beat out Richard Gephardt, who had been polling very close to Dean ever since the beginning, taking Gephardt’s place as the man in second place. However, McCain had quite a bit going against him. For one thing, he was conservative as far as Democrats went, which made the liberal faction of the party nervous about him; although some speculated that his conservatism might work to his advantage if he won the nomination; allowing him to appeal to independents and moderate Republicans that might otherwise have gone to President Bush. Another strike against him that would come up during the primary season and, more notably, in the debates, was that McCain had never been elected to office as a Democrat. As stated before, McCain had been a Republican for most of his political life, having only joined the Democratic Party in 2001. Yet another strike against him was that he had run for the Republican nomination for President in 2000, losing in the primary to none other than George Bush, which made voters even more nervous about a potential McCain campaign for their party; the mentality being that if he couldn’t defeat Bush when he was just a Governor, then how could he be expected to defeat him as a President? But, the biggest strike against McCain was that he was pulling double duty in 2004. Not only would he be running for the Democratic nomination for President, but he was also running for the Arizona State Democratic Party’s nomination for the United States Senate in their election that year. There was concern over whether or not he could pull double duty, especially with the Republican field growing in the Arizona Senate race.