by Jill Zuckman
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – What a difference a win makes.
Once relegated to flying commercial and carrying his own bags, Sen. John McCain left New Hampshire this morning a winner on a private 737 jet.
Instead of the usual half dozen reporters tagging along after him, more than 30 reporters, photographers and television crews accompanied him to Michigan where he was greeted by five satellite television trucks and a phalanx of cameras inside an airport hangar here.
After appearing on all three morning network news shows, McCain and his wife, Cindy, boarded the plane and walked down the aisle, shaking hands with staff, friends and press.
“It’s very gratifying to see him accomplish this because in July there were only a handful of people who thought it was possible,” said Charles R. Black Jr., his senior adviser.
In Michigan, which McCain won by six points in 2000, the senator said he planned to focus on the economy in remarks in Grand Rapids and Pontiac. “It’s a very serious situation,” he said of the state’s job losses.
Aides said that McCain’s overarching themes would remain the same as they were in New Hampshire – restoring trust and confidence in the government, controlling runaway spending, and being prepared to assume the position of Commander-in-Chief.
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Over the last eight days, the campaign has taken in more than $1 million as contributions have steadily risen, according to Rick Davis, McCain’s campaign manager.
“There’s no impediment to us running a full-blown primary campaign,” Davis said of the restored coffers. McCain has been airing television commercials for the last week in Michigan and for the last two weeks in South Carolina, he said.