VIRGINIA BEACH, VA. — John McCain unveiled a feisty new campaign speech Monday, but the talk of change and promise of a fist-shaking fight to November failed to allay Republican concerns that the presidential race may be slipping beyond his grasp.
With 21 days to the election, there was widespread agreement that Wednesday night's third and final presidential debate would be a crucial opportunity -- and perhaps the last one -- for the Arizona senator to change the course of a race that appears to be moving strongly in Democrat Barack Obama's direction.
But the consensus ended there. For just about every Republican urging McCain to focus relentlessly on the economy, there was another who said McCain should continue questioning Obama's character by citing his association with William Ayers, a Vietnam-era radical. Some said the GOP nominee needed to do both, and also bring up the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., Obama's controversial former pastor; others called that a mistake and said that a mix of messages was part of McCain's problem.
"This has been a very tactically oriented campaign that responds to the previous night's evening news," said David Winston, a Republican pollster who advises the GOP leadership in the House and Senate. "As a result, they've gone tactical decision to tactical decision without any strategy to tie that together."
Republican Sen. John Ensign of Nevada, head of the party's senatorial campaign committee, said that McCain had to "start getting a very clear, simple message on the economy. Their team has not put that together so far."
Neither Ensign nor Winston ruled out a McCain victory. But their unusually open criticism reflected a nervousness that is growing within party ranks as McCain seemingly shifts strategies on almost a daily basis.
He spent several days last week criticizing Obama's relationship with Ayers (though he never brought up the matter in last Tuesday night's debate). McCain then abruptly halted the criticism and even defended his Democratic rival when some of his own supporters responded with slurs.
Campaigning Monday in Virginia and North Carolina, states Republicans once took for granted, McCain made no mention of Ayers at his rallies and largely avoided the character questions he had raised previously. Instead, he returned to the promise of change -- a major theme of last month's successful GOP convention -- and distanced himself not so subtly from the Bush administration.
