As the top Republican presidential candidates fail to pull away from the pack, underdog John McCain has resurrected his struggling campaign with several significant endorsements and a surge in the polls that some believe could result in a victory in New Hampshire and other early primaries.
Polls released in recent days show McCain has climbed into double digits in New Hampshire, and one survey puts him in a dead heat with Mitt Romney, who for months has been leading the GOP field in the Granite State.
An Iowa poll released Thursday afternoon showed McCain jumping from 9 percent to 20 percent, supplanting Romney in second place, 8 points behind Mike Huckabee.
A new poll also gives McCain a two-point advantage over both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in national matchups and shows he has the highest favorable rating of any candidate, Republican or Democrat.
“McCain could very well be the guy,” said Erick Erickson, editor of the conservative blog Redstate.com. “That he is doing so well in New Hampshire, which is Mitt Romney’s home turf, we’re looking at a situation where Romney could come in second in Iowa and second in New Hampshire and, if so, he’s done.”
McCain’s rise began with endorsements from the Des Moines Register in Iowa and the Union Leader and Boston Globe in New Hampshire. The Globe endorsement was particularly damaging for Romney because he served as governor of Massachusetts.
McCain also received the endorsement of Democrat-turned-Independent Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, Al Gore’s running mate in 2000.
Lieberman’s backing is seen as evidence that McCain has the ability to attract enough Independents and independent-minded Democrats to beat the Democratic candidate in the general election.
Strategists believe if Huckabee wins the Jan. 3 Iowa caucus, it will damage Romney’s campaign enough to give McCain the boost he needs to win the New Hampshire primary, which takes place five days later. The effect will be magnified if McCain finishes second or a strong third in Iowa.
“And if Romney sputters after that, he leaves a vacuum on the middle-right that McCain can exploit,” longtime Republican strategist Craig Shirley said. “[Rudy] Giuliani can’t exploit that advantage as a moderate, and the [Fred] Thompson campaign hasn’t shown it has the ability to exploit that.”
Huckabee is not considered a threat in New Hampshire, where he has lagged behind Romney, McCain and Giuliani.
Fergus Cullen, chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party, said Romney and McCain are running well-organized campaigns in his state.
A victory for McCain is possible, Cullen said, but it will come down to the wire.
“Romney has the best organization in New Hampshire and has run an excellent campaign here,” Cullen said. “This is not a campaign or an organization that is going to collapse here.”
