Momentum for McCain
Last weekend was a brilliant one for John McCain. The endorsements rolled in, it seemed, from the unexpected in Iowa (the coveted Des Moines Register newspaper endorsement) to the controversial in New Hampshire (the former Democratic VP candidate Joe Lieberman voiced support for McCain on Monday). Quite suddenly the McCain campaign has gained sorely needed momentum as Iowa and New Hampshire near.
While Lieberman’s decision was a personal (and political) one, it is the power of the editorial boards that drove the elder statesman to the front of the news cycle. Without Ron Paul-like , staunch, web-roots support and without particularly stellar national polling figures, John McCain’s campaign has managed to pique the interest of the conservative blogosphere as well, though their support is merely an afterthought.
McCain does not pretend to run the most tech-savvy or digital age-y campaign, although he has reached out to some bloggers (David Adesnik at Oxblog, for one, has been on McCain-sponsored conference calls for bloggers; in Adesnik’s case, the calls have been successful). Now that a comeback for McCain looks more feasible than, say, at the height of his support for the surge in Iraq this summer, conservative bloggers are reevaluating their “anti-McCain”—or should I say “pro-someone else”—views. Via today’s Blogometer, Mary Katharine Ham notices that conservative acquaintances are giving the candidate a second look. Also, at least one person over at the Weekly Standard is putting their trust in “savvy on the ground observers” who say that McCain’s New Hampshire efforts are “catching fire.” McCain is now en vogue again, but the movement did not originate online.
McCain’s success in the early states serves as a testament to the practical purpose of new media in the primary cycle: the Internet can raise the profile of a campaign—indeed propel it to new heights—but traditional media (newspapers, television) maintain prominence of place in the election process.