McCain goes on tour to 'introduce himself'

John McCain seems to be a man who needs few introductions. After all, he's held federal office for 26 years, he's perhaps the highest-profile senator in the country, he's run for president twice, and he's written a couple of best-selling autobiographies.

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Yet, the 2008 presumptive Republican presidential nominee has embarked on a six-day, 4,400-mile cross-country tour to introduce himself to Americans.

His "Service to America Tour" is making six stops at locations that mark important points in his life story. The five-state trek is set to conclude Saturday on the steps of the Yavapai County Courthouse in Prescott, where he has wrapped up each of his Senate campaigns in the tradition of his Senate predecessor, Barry Goldwater.

The geographic touchstones actually are of secondary importance, said McCain campaign spokesman Jeff Sadosky.

The primary purpose of the tour is to allow McCain to explain how his life experiences at each location have helped shape his values and contributed to his vision for the future, Sadosky said.

For example, the theme of his appearance on the steps of the Yavapai County Courthouse will be political bipartisanship. The specific location is where Goldwater traditionally kicked off his campaigns.

"When (McCain) is in Prescott, he can sit back and talk about relationships in life with Mo Udall and Barry Goldwater and reflect upon, while they are polar opposites politically, they worked together for years and had a good strong relationship, built on respect and congeniality," he said.

Goldwater, a conservative Republican from Arizona, served in the Senate from 1953 through 1965, and from 1969 through 1987. Udall, a liberal Democrat from Arizona, served 15 terms in the House from 1961 to 1991.

The tour will allow McCain to introduce himself to voters on his own terms, said former Maricopa County Republican Party chairman Tom Liddy.

"We all know him, but we all know him in different ways," he said.

Voters who grew up during the 1970s, as Liddy did, may remember McCain as a Vietnam War hero and former prisoner of war who returned home to the United States and shook President Richard Nixon's hand, an event that attracted considerable news coverage.

"But if you're 30 or 35 years old today and highly likely to vote in a general election - maybe you don't vote in primaries - you weren't even born when that happened," Liddy said.

"You only know him as the senior senator from Arizona. You may only know him for all the work he did to stop pork-barrel spending. You may only know him for his work on immigration. Or you may only know him for his work on this current issue we have with terrorism," he said.

The biographical tour will provide McCain several venues to highlight his pre-political career. In fact, McCain is running out of time for that sort of campaign work, because by the fall, the presidential campaign will have moved on to policy issues such as health care, the economy and terrorism, Liddy said.

Americans want to know their presidential candidates at a personal level, he said. "Let's have him introduce himself to us. Then we'll get to know him. And then we can talk policy in the fall," he said.

Veteran campaign strategist Ned Barnett said the tour has two major benefits: McCain can formally present himself to voters who came of age since he ran for president in 2000, and McCain can refresh his life story in his own words.

That's particularly important for McCain in regard to his nuanced positions on issues such as torture and immigration, said Barnett, who has worked for both Republicans and Democrats and is president of Barnett Marketing Communications of Las Vegas. Even members of McCain's own party have miscast him, he said.

"This is a campaign that's going back to the core values of conservative America and McCain trying to say, 'Hey, wake up! Stop listening to Rush Limbaugh for five minutes and listen to me,'" Barnett said.

John McCain's 'Service to America Tour'

Monday

Site: Meridian, Miss.

Significance: Generational home to the McCain family

Talking point: The role of families

Today

Site: Alexandria, Va.

Significance: High school

Talking point: Education

Wednesday

Site: Annapolis, Md.

Significance: Naval Academy

Talking point: Service to country

Site: Pensacola, Fla.

Significance: Navy flight school

Talking point: The spirit of volunteerism

Thursday

Site: Jacksonville, Fla.

Significance: Military service

Talking point: Sacrifice and the role of the military

Saturday:

Site: Prescott

Significance: Political career

Talking point: Political bipartisanship