McCain: A serious candidate

If Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is having fun in his second run for president, he sure has a strange way of showing it.


John McCain on Monday addressed a Washington think tank about the issue of energy security. (Getty Images)In a speech Monday on energy security -- the last of three major policy addresses in the lead-up to the formal announcement of his presidential bid on Wednesday -- McCain projected an air of somber seriousness that showed little of the fun-loving maverick that voters (and the media) fell in love with in 2000.

It's worth noting that McCain's subject matter -- how American dependency on foreign oil is undermining national security -- is something short of hilariously funny. And it didn't help that McCain read the speech from a huge teleprompter in the back of the room, which led many people in the audience to crane their necks to see the TV screen.

But, whatever the circumstances, McCain's speech sparked little energy among the crowd gathered at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. The lone highlight was when he pulled out a huge and cumbersome cell phone from the 1980s and modern model to show the power of American ingenuity. In general, the speech was extremely heavy on policy proposals and light on uplifting rhetoric.

The press conference afterward was more of the same. McCain answered a series of questions with his voice soft and his hands clasped in front of him. Asked about the Supreme Court hearing set for Wednesday on a legal challenge to the 2002 campaign finance bill that bears his name, McCain said quietly, "I would hope that most people would recognize we have eliminated one of the most corrupting influences in Washington ... soft money."

Even a semi-antagonistic question on whether putting a lobbyist -- former Rep. Tom Loeffler (R-Texas) -- in charge of his national fundraising effort undermined his reform message didn't excite McCain. He recounted that he had known Loeffler since the early 1980s, adding: "He is one of a large number of people helping me with fundraising."

McCain has shown flashes of his trademark wit and biting sense of humor -- especially during a recent bus tour of Iowa and New Hampshire. But McCain version 2008 is considerably more restrained than the 2000 model.

It would seem that McCain's change in attitude is part of a broader effort to paint him as a serious man for serious times. McCain allies believe he is the only candidate in the Republican field with the experience to handle the tough challenges facing the nation domestically and internationally. Showing his serious side, the theory goes, is essential to proving to people that McCain and McCain alone is prepared to walk into the Oval Office in January 2009 and begin governing.

It also reflects the belief within his campaign that while the fun-loving McCain may have been an appealing figure to many voters in 2000, it didn't win him the primary. McCain has gone to great lengths to become the frontrunner/establishment favorite in this race, which means less bomb throwing and more statesmanship

Still, flashes of the "old" iconoclastic McCain still peep out from time to time. Witness the minor outcry over his warbling of "Bomb Iran" last week. Could McCain -- now no longer burdened with the "frontrunner" tag -- shift back to a more freewheeling approach to the campaign?

Maybe.

Asked Monday about last week's Iran controversy, McCain had this advice for his critics: "Lighten up and get a life