Mich. holds rhetoric lesson for McCain

Romney profited from his rival's 'straight talk'

John McCain's remarks about lost jobs in Michigan might have cost him the state's Republican primary vote to Mitt Romney. (Charles Dharapak/Associated Press)

LAKE WYLIE, S.C. - John McCain's campaign "is predicated on the idea that voters are smart," according to aide Mark Salter. But his loss this week in Michigan, after a quick dash through its television markets, suggests that its logic - the notion that telling smart people things they do not want to hear will only make them like you more - might be best suited for leisurely politicking in intimate states.

Mitt Romney overwhelmingly won the state's Republican primary after repeatedly invoking a McCain sound bite that lost jobs "aren't coming back" to the state. While emphasizing his Michigan heritage as grounds for his optimism, Romney used McCain's words to portray him as negative and defeatist about the state's future.

"It was hard to have a full airing of that," said McCain strategist Charlie Black. "It was a little complex."

It appears the debate over economic change was on the minds of Republicans who voted Tuesday. A majority of primary voters said the economy was the most important issue to them - far more than in previous primary states - and Romney won their support by a margin of 12 points.

McCain might have known his statement about jobs would be controversial when he uttered it. At a Grand Rapids campaign stop last Wednesday, he prefaced it by saying, "Let me give you a straight talk," which usually prefaces a remark McCain expects to be unpopular or for which he hopes will be commended as courageous.

In interviews and at the handful of town hall meetings conducted across Michigan in the days before the vote, McCain presented the context for the "jobs" remark. He was referring to manufacturing work, whose loss due to automation and global trade was irrevocable, he said, but he would work to bring new, high-skilled jobs to replace them. McCain said his primary concern was making sure no workers were "left behind."

Only several thousand Michiganders attended the events where McCain explained his position and recommended reading a Detroit News article headlined "Experts back up McCain's jobs claim" that cited the consensus of local economists.

"We had a six-day campaign in Michigan, so it was hard to get everything across we wanted to," Black said.

Yesterday, McCain spokesman Steve Schmidt accused Romney of having won Michigan by "pandering" through the promise of a $100 million bailout of the auto industry, which Romney suggested would be part of his plan to return jobs to the state. A Romney spokesman responded by saying McCain was "ready to just give up on the future."

Much of McCain's failure to connect with Republican and independent voters during the spring and summer months derived from the fact that those who followed him in the national media were familiar with little more than shorthand summaries of his positions: that he was for an expansion of the Iraq war and for amnesty for illegal immigrants.

In New Hampshire, where he hosted 100 of his freewheeling question-and-answer sessions, McCain was able to deliver more nuanced descriptions of his stands on those issues. As a result, he often won over voters who realized they were not entirely at odds with him, while still getting credit in media coverage for the political audacity of his "straight talk."

"The town halls are a great arena to show McCain, the truth-teller," said media adviser Mark McKinnon. "When we get into compacted states, he has to do it in a different venue."

Michigan marked the first step in a newly rushed primary calendar that will include votes in more than two dozen states - including some of the nation's largest - over the next three weeks. McCain will rarely have the time to connect with large numbers of voters in personal settings, and will instead have to communicate largely through ads and media coverage.

In Michigan, when McCain appeared before the conservative group Americans for Prosperity, he was booed and heckled for his stance on immigration.

McCain said it was the first time he had had such a response; the news footage of him being shouted down was broadcast nationwide.