This Week scored the big interviews of the week–the first Sunday interview with John McCain since he announced his bid for the presidency, and the first Sunday interview with Steny Hoyer since his selection as the new House majority leader. McCain led off the show, and faced a series of questions that reaffirmed his status as a social conservative, saying that he does “not believe gay marriage should be legal. But I do believe that people ought to be able to enter into contracts, exchange powers of attorney, other ways that people have relationships can enter into.” He was asked about abortion as well, saying “I do believe it’s very likely or possible that the Supreme Court should overturn Roe v. Wade, which would then return these decisions to the state. . . . I’m a federalist.”

On Iraq, McCain reiterated the points he has been making for years now. “If you’re gonna do what’s necessary to succeed, i.e., the Powell doctrine, then go ahead and do it, but if you’re not going to, then don’t. . . . You can’t have a political solution if you don’t have a military solution. There’s never been one in history.” He also used the opportunity to remind the public of what will happen in Iraq if the military doesn’t succeed. “The consequences of failure are so severe, that I will exhaust every possibility to try and fix this situation, because it’s not the end when American troops leave. The battleground shifts, and we’ll be fighting them again. It’s not just Iraq they’re interested in, it’s the region, and then us.”