John McCain as President

John McCain is a maverick -- so goes conventional wisdom -- as does one of McCain’s ads, which calls him the American Reformer.

McCain has said that he's angered "the big spenders in Congress," by calling for reform and opposing "pork projects," but how would a President McCain work with those people? Washington insider and author Sally Quinn says McCain has a multifaceted personality. He can anger some people one day and work with them the next.

Quinn: "Most people really like John McCain. He’s an extremely likeable person and he’s very admirable in many ways. One is that he says what he believes and he will cross the party line whenever he thinks that the Republicans are not on the right track."

That has won McCain the endorsement of former Presidential candidate Joe Lieberman. Lieberman is campaigning with the Arizona Senator and possibly angling for a role in a McCain Administration. They’ve served in the Senate together for twenty years.

Lieberman: "He’ll just call everybody into a room, a lot of Democrats, Republicans, House, Senate and say “okay, let’s cut the politics, we all want to do something, our constituents want us to do it, let’s do it!"

But McCain’s beliefs and behaviors can get him in trouble with other members of Congress. James Thurber has been a professor of political science at American University for over 30 years: "Senator McCain can be a little prickly. Because sometimes he has truth and when you have truth you push something very hard until your colleagues get a little tired of hearing it and you don’t have the votes."

Ohio Democratic Congressman Tim Ryan says a President’s temperament can change the course of America’s history: "Thirteen days for the Cuban Missile Crisis - it was Kennedy’s cool, calm demeanor that was the key to success. The other part is the reaction to go to war in Iraq- different set of emotions, different temperament, cowboy diplomacy."

His Ohio Republican colleague Steve LaTourette is supporting McCain. He says the Arizona Senator’s temperament helps him work successfully with Democrats, but can harm him with Conservatives: "I know something that incensed a lot of people in the Republican base was this whole McCain-Feingold bipartisan campaign reform act. He felt strongly about it. He got it through and the reason he got it through is he worked across the aisle with Democrats. Democrats will remember that. And I think if push comes to shove, that’s his temperament, that’s his inclination and he can get things done."

But this has led to Republicans wondering if he’ll be a conservative enough President. McCain has stood apart from conservative Republicans most notably on ethics reform and immigration legislation.

Created by Bureau Chief and Executive Producer Melinda Wittstock, "Capitol News Connection" provides insightful, localized coverage of political news from the Washington.

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