When Vietnam does come up in profiles of McCain, reporters usually focus on the role that he played, along with Senator John Kerry, the Massachusetts Democrat and fellow Vietnam veteran, in vigorously supporting US recognition of Vietnam in 1994 and in the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two former enemies. In his campaign appearances, McCain frequently reminds his audience about that, telling perhaps 2,000 people packed into a New Hampshire high school in early December that he believes in "reconciliation and healing" in regard to Vietnam and pointing proudly to the fact that thousands of US veterans have gone back to Vietnam since 1994, often taking their families, to seek closure. David Halberstam, one of the Vietnam era's leading journalists and the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Best and the Brightest, has been convinced. "I think he's wonderful," says Halberstam. "On an issue that has been grievously divisive, I think he has been better than anyone at creating a healing process."

Reporters also praise McCain for his plain-spoken openness. Unlike Bush, for instance, who is jealously protected from unsanitary encounters with the press by his campaign, McCain is constantly surrounded by reporters and never speaks "off the record." His penchant for off-color humor, rather than tarnishing him, appears to put reporters in awe of his candor. Even cruel jokes, such as the one that McCain told about Chelsea Clinton being ugly because Janet Reno is her father, slide off McCain's back. And the media have another interest as well: Were his candidacy to unravel, the race for the GOP nomination would be all but over, making the campaign much less interesting to report on. Above all, McCain is a good story.

In countless upbeat profiles, a great deal of attention is spent examining the areas in which McCain parts company with Republican orthodoxy, such as campaign finance reform and tobacco. Ask him about a variety of issues--healthcare, telecommunications, taxes--and McCain fires back with a comment on the "evil and pernicious influence" of wealthy campaign donors. "I'm determined to give government back to you by ridding the government of the big money from special interests," McCain tells a packed town meeting in New Hampshire, and his passion seems genuine.

His stand has earned him the ire of senior Republicans like Senate majority leader Trent Lott and Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell, a staunch opponent of campaign finance reform. (In a lighthearted interview on the bus with Comedy Central, McCain can't resist getting in a dig at McConnell. Asked to name the funniest politician, McCain deadpans: "Probably Senator Mitch McConnell. He makes me laugh all the time." The reporters on the bus howl.)

Yet McCain stands far to the right on many issues. He supports the Star Wars missile defense boondoggle and never tires of accusing President Clinton of underfunding the Pentagon, while surrounding himself with hawkish foreign policy gurus, including Henry Kissinger, Jeane Kirkpatrick, Brent Scowcroft and Lawrence Eagleburger. He supports school vouchers, privatization of Social Security and a constitutional amendment mandating a balanced federal budget. He backs the flat tax, the death penalty and a lock-'em-up approach to crime. He opposes gun control, abortion and increasing the minimum wage. He opposes government regulation as a matter of principle. He voted to impeach President Clinton, and he supported every item in Newt Gingrich's 1994 Contract With America. He's voted for an amendment to outlaw flag-burning. He backs tort reform and free trade, including NAFTA and normalizing trade relations with China. He voted against protecting homosexuals from job discrimination, and (though he's changed his mind since) he voted against making Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday a holiday.

In the end, it's hard to see how McCain can win the GOP nomination. Without a doubt, he has a good chance of winning New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary on February 1. According to Rick Davis, McCain's campaign manager, his strategy there is to combine old-fashioned retail politics--he's organized more than sixty town meetings and plans many more--with an effort to target the state's 100,000-plus veterans and the 300,000-plus independent voters, who can choose to vote in either the Republican or Democratic primary. In 1996, says Davis, turnout in the Republican primary was 180,000.

Still, should McCain win New Hampshire, he'll then face Bush in an escalating race in big, expensive states where Bush's gigantic fundraising advantage and high name recognition, not to mention the support of most of the Republican Party establishment, will severely test McCain's ability to compete.

Nevertheless, McCain's emergence as a serious contender is a sign that he represents something that a significant part of America is searching for in 2000. Is it that Americans want a hero? A tough guy? A straight shooter? Is it that McCain's prison experience imbues him with "character"? As the Straight Talk Express sways, McCain muses on the topic. "We don't know exactly what the American people are looking for," he says. "In '76 they were looking for someone who wasn't Nixon. In '80 they were looking for a strong leader. In '88 they wanted someone to continue with the Reagan legacy. This year, I think they just want someone who tells it exactly as he sees it."

But in the end, is it enough to be plain-spoken if one is also so wrong? "The fact that he says what he thinks is in his favor," says Ellsberg. "But what he thinks is cockeyed.

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