MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Sen. John McCain, who made his name as a Republican maverick, is going mainstream.
Six years after the Arizonan emerged as George W. Bush's nemesis in the bitterly fought 2000 GOP presidential primary -- and, in the views of some, ran against his party's establishment -- McCain is taking a different tack as he prepares for a possible second White House bid.
Even as he has picked high-profile fights with Bush over military interrogation tactics and with congressional colleagues over pork-barrel spending, McCain has been quietly courting GOP power brokers, emphasizing his loyalty to the president and burnishing his conservative credentials on litmus-test issues.
McCain was nearly alone on Capitol Hill in defending the administration-approved ports deal involving a Dubai-owned company. He has eased his opposition to tax cuts that he once complained were excessive.
He recently met with the Rev. Jerry Falwell, a leading evangelical conservative whom he previously had denounced as intolerant. To the delight of GOP partisans, he publicly lambasted Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois -- a rising star among Democrats -- over an ethics and lobbying overhaul.
He is trying to build bridges to Republican leaders in key states -- such as Iowa and South Carolina -- that he ignored or lost in 2000. And on Friday night, he was a featured speaker at a Memphis gathering of more than 1,000 GOP faithful, where he reached out to conservative activists.
"We've learned from our mistakes and, if John does run, I think it's clear he's trying to be the leader of the party, not the leader of a movement," said Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who backed McCain in 2000 and continues to support his White House hopes. "You're going to hear plenty of straight talk about the issues. But you're going to see a man who is sensitive to the idea that this party is multifaceted and that the ... social and economic conservative groups are the heart and soul of this party."
McCain is battling a stubborn piece of conventional political wisdom: that although he could be the GOP's most formidable general-election candidate because of his appeal to independents, the party might not nominate him because of deep-seated mistrust he inspires among religious and social conservatives.
McCain, 69, antagonized that powerful GOP constituency in 2000 when he decried its influence in politics.
