How Conservative Is McCain?

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McCain's Big Picture was on display last week during his New Hampshire victory speech. "They said there wasn't room for reform in the Republican Party," he crowed. "Well, we've made room." The next day in South Carolina, he said his campaign would attract not just "hard-core Republicans" but also "Reagan Democrats and independents--I think that's a sign of electability. I would like to preserve our Republican base and make [it] attractive to Democrats the same way Ronald Reagan did." That could be the most crucial lesson McCain learned from any of his heroes: become the living, breathing symbol of what voters want, and the fine points of the plan might not mean so much.

--With reporting by John F. Dickerson and Viveca Novak/Washington