SPARTANBURG, S.C. — John McCain's Republican presidential run collapsed in South Carolina eight years ago after what his campaign later acknowledged was a critical mistake: hesitating before responding to false accusations that the candidate's wife was a drug addict and that he fathered an illegitimate child.
With South Carolina again emerging as a pivotal battleground in McCain's campaign for the presidency, his campaign is moving aggressively -- too aggressively, critics say -- to make sure the Arizona senator doesn't fall victim to personal smears again.
The centerpiece of its strategy is a group that calls itself the "truth squad." It was established this month to preempt or blunt any new political dirty tricks, such as a recent mailing sent to several dozen South Carolina newspapers accusing McCain of betraying fellow prisoners during the Vietnam War.
McCain's truth squad is headed by South Carolina Atty. Gen. Henry McMaster, state Speaker of the House Bobby Harrell and state Adjutant General Stan Spears. Even as the McCain campaign was preparing a mailer last week critical of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's record on abortion and taxes, McCain promised that his group would swing back hard if it saw anything reminiscent of the 2000 attacks against him.
The squad's role was evident Wednesday when Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a state co-chairman for the McCain campaign, appeared at a McCain rally in Greenville, S.C., and told the crowd to watch for "some garbage in the mail out there and the phone." He asked the veterans in the audience to "watch John's back."
At the next event, in Spartanburg, McMaster, another campaign co-chairman, said the political season was beginning to look like "Halloween with a full moon" where "people will do most anything."
"Don't pay attention to that stuff," he said.
McCain told reporters on his campaign bus that "scurrilous stuff" had started again, referring to the mailing about his prisoner-of-war experience, among other things. "We will not let it go this time," he said.
The effort riled, among others, the campaign of McCain rival Romney.
"It was very quiet until McCain's people revved it up," said J. Warren Tompkins, a South Carolina consultant to the Romney campaign.
"To me," Tompkins said, "they're boxing ghosts, because nobody is really doing anything."
