Campaign 2000: The Power and The Story

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The problem is that up on the stage, when he tries to tell stories not about his reckless youth or his heroic comrades but about average Americans and their everyday lives, he is working with much dryer clay. He is best when he is angry, not empathic. He blazes with indignation that 12,000 military families are on food stamps while Congress approves a $325 million aircraft carrier the Pentagon doesn't want. But when the subject turns to the dining-room-table issues that top every list of voter concerns--education, health care, moral values--McCain seems to lose some fire. In last week's debate, he took a question about how to fix HMOs--an issue as salient as they come--and not once but twice pivoted to talk instead about Internet taxation.

His advisers justify their early emphasis on biography by noting that George W. Bush entered the race with 100% name recognition, even if some folks still get him confused with his father. McCain came in a relative unknown, and so has had to introduce himself. Only by telling his story will he have any credibility when he starts saying what he would fight for, given the chance.

But they know he has to move on now, build a bridge from the bio to the issues. Starting last week, with a foreign-policy speech Wednesday, McCain began to roll out his positions--national security this week, then health care, education and the economy. For once, the focus will be less on who he is than what he says he'll do.

This is a much harder story to tell, not just for McCain but for all the candidates trying to capture voters' attention in a campaign season in which the markets are up and the world is peaceful and folks have so many other things on their mind. Even for a man with a great story, it's a hard sell. Maybe McCain is right to try to capture their imagination instead.