On a humid summer morning, the Straight Talk Express is rolling along, en route from a town-hall meeting in Albuquerque to a private airstrip where a newly refurbished plane, also dubbed the Straight Talk Express, awaits.
Sen. John McCain sits stiffly in the back of the bus on a plush velvet U-shaped banquette. Eight journalists surround him, a scene reminiscent of the days when McCain would open a vein and bleed quotes to any reporter, any time.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Saturday, September 06, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 35 words Type of Material: Correction
The imperfect hero: In Thursday's Section A, a caption for a 1961 photo accompanying a profile of John McCain gave his rank as lieutenant. When the photo was taken he was a lieutenant junior grade.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Monday, September 08, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 52 words Type of Material: Correction
"The imperfect hero": The profile of Sen. John McCain in Thursday's Section A said that Washington magazine once dubbed him "Senator Hothead." The magazine was the Washingtonian. Also, a caption for a 1961 photo with the profile gave McCain's Navy rank as lieutenant. At the time he was a lieutenant junior grade.
Instead, the 20-minute ride is devoted to a dry recitation of why Sen. Barack Obama was wrong about the troop buildup in Iraq. McCain, reading from notes, says nothing new. He is tense, serious and, as a reporter later relayed to his longtime chief of staff, unwaveringly on message (buildup good, Obama bad).
"Was he?" asked a delighted Mark Salter, who is also the coauthor of McCain's five bestsellers. "Well, God bless him, 'cause it's taken a lot of work to get him there."
McCain has always been hard to predict -- witness his surprising choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate. Over the course of his 72 years, he has been called (and has called himself) many things: charming bad boy, wise-ass, underachiever, warrior, coward, maverick, apostate, straight talker, liar, war hero.
The contradictions give rise to questions about the essential McCain. Is he an opportunist with a conscience, or a man with so singular a moral compass that sometimes only he knows where it points?
In fact, McCain lives by a series of honor codes, instilled in him by his father (an admiral) and his father's father (also an admiral). To boil them down to their simplest formulation: One must never lie, cheat or steal. McCain would be the first to admit that he has failed, sometimes spectacularly, at all three. But he also has perfected the familiar American ritual of coming clean and moving on.
"He is the best apologizer in politics," said Dan Schnur, who was McCain's campaign spokesman in 2000 and now directs the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at USC.
The codes inform McCain's reformist zeal and often set up clashes between his independent thinking and Republican orthodoxy.
His championing of a bipartisan campaign finance reform bill -- which passed in 2002, setting limits on corporate political donations -- infuriated many Republicans, who accused him of undercutting the party's interests and attacking free speech. But the guts of the reforms have withstood court challenges.
