CHARLESTON, S.C. -- John McCain grinned as he pondered the latest turn of the Republican presidential campaign -- George W. Bush discussing veterans' affairs, questioning McCain's qualifications to be president, even producing a veterans' group leader who criticized the Arizona senator's record on military matters.
"Please don't throw me in that briar patch," quipped the former Navy pilot and Vietnam POW, whose bus full of increasingly optimistic campaign staffers was cruising the coastal highways of South Carolina. "Why don't we have a real good debate on national security and foreign policy anytime, anywhere?"Bush has the money to wage a national campaign, the backing of many in South Carolina's Republican establishment and the comfort of knowing the state's primary, on Feb. 19, has turned back insurgent candidates in past presidential campaigns.
Yet at a rally of close to 2,000 people jammed into a restaurant on the edge of Myrtle Beach, McCain gleefully mocked his rival's description of the McCain win in New Hampshire's primary.
"The Bush campaign 'hit a bump in the road,' " McCain joked. "I think it tore out the transmission."
Comparing himself to Ronald Reagan in 1980, McCain said his campaign was expanding the appeal of the Republican party. But he said, with the Republican establishment lined up against him and his campaign reform plan, "I feel like Luke Skywalker trying to get out of the Death Star."
Later, McCain was heading toward tobacco country, with a stop in Florence, a tobacco-rich community in northeastern South Carolina. McCain's unsuccessful attempt to raise tobacco taxes has been controversial in tobacco regions, but campaign aides say they don't expect that to hurt him in the upcoming primary.
Bush was campaigning in Michigan today, beginning at a Detroit church, after sharpening his rhetoric against McCain in South Carolina on Thursday.
"For somebody who's talking about campaign funding reform . . . I'm going to let him explain how . . . his receiving people in front of his committee who have been contributing to his campaign is consistent," Bush said.
He also complained that a McCain TV ad mischaracterized his Social Security plan, labeling the ad "Washington-style politics."
After showing off endorsements from Medal of Honor winners and retired generals, the Texas governor made a pointed reference to McCain, saying, "There is a big difference between being somebody who had a distinguished military record and being someone who's trying to lead the country."
McCain was on a roll Thursday, learning of a poll that had him with an edge just two days after his big 18-point win in New Hampshire, getting $1 million in Internet contributions since his primary victory and winning the battle to compete in New York's primary.
McCain said he knows the rolling political gabfest on his bus the Straight Talk Express may or may not survive much past March 7, the cluster of primaries including New York, California, a handful of New England states, Georgia and Ohio.
But no matter what happens down the road, this week has been McCain's moment.
"There's something magic going on," McCain said as he held court in the back of his campaign bus. "I can't put my finger on it. But we're having a wonderful time."
He told enthusiastic crowds up and down the South Carolina coast that he's "exhilarated and exuberant" by the recent progress of his campaign. His pitch for votes noted his experience with military matters, his approach to offer a smaller tax cut and funnel two-thirds of the surplus toward Social Security and his promise to always tell Americans the truth.
Bob Montague, a retiree and veteran from Seabrook Island, said presidents can always find good domestic advisers, so he looks to the president for leadership on foreign affairs.
"McCain is better qualified to do that," he said while attending a McCain rally.
Reps. Lindsey Graham and Mark Sanford have been traveling with McCain, helping dispel the image that Bush has South Carolina, and all of its Republicans, wrapped up. South Carolina has been delivered for establishment candidates in past years, serving as a firewall after unpredictable New Hampshire.
But McCain argued Thursday night that South Carolina is fast changing, with many new residents, a growing middle class and overseas investment that may make it a different electorate in 2000.
"The old Republican machine is fragmented," he said. "There's a new generation of Republican leaders, and they have a lean and hungry look."
He allowed himself the luxury of pondering a general election run as the good news came rolling in. But when a reporter asked whether he would consider a female running mate, he seemed to snap out of his blissful reverie.
"Hey," he chided the reporter, "I've won one state.