HOENIX - John McCain crashed a plane in Corpus Christi Bay, barely escaped a deadly fire on the flight deck of the USS Forrestal, got shot down over Vietnam, and spent five brutal years in a Hanoi POW camp. Last night, the Arizona senator who seems to have nine lives survived another near-death experience.
As his Arizona constituents cheered, as confetti blew across the packed ballroom like a red tornado, and the theme from ''Star Wars'' blared, McCain punched the thumbs-up sign of political victory in the air. He had won the big primary in Michigan, the home-turf contest in Arizona, and most important, his ''do or die'' presidential campaign had done it again.
''Those of us who work for McCain always knew he was resilient, but now you saw just how tough this guy is,'' said Mark Salter, his longtime Senate aide and the co-author of ''Faith of My Fathers,'' McCain's best-selling memoir. ''He picked himself up after a pretty depressing loss in South Carolina and fought himself to two primary wins two days later.
''Very impressive,'' Salter said with awe.
''Don't fear this campaign, my fellow Republicans,'' McCain said in remarks that had none of the vitriol and defiance of his concession speech Saturday in South Carolina. ''We are patriots on a noble mission to make this new century America's best century, and we are going to win!''
At the back of the ballroom, McCain's troika of top aides - John Weaver, Mike Murphy, and Rick Davis - exulted, slapping each other's backs and exchanging high fives. It had been a couple of grueling, sleepless days since South Carolina, and the suspense had been awful yesterday.
Around lunchtime, exit polls signalled that McCain was going to defeat Texas Governor George W. Bush in Michigan. McCain, who was supposed to be at home taking a nap, kept calling his aides. What was happening? Who was ahead? Were the numbers going to prove he could prevail without Bush's big-name endorsements or crawling into the negative-campaign gutter?
McCain's lead narrowed as the afternoon wore on, and spirits among his aides sank as CNN announced that the Michigan race was too close to call. When the network did declare him the winner, a loud hoot went up in the McCain home, which by then was filled with family and friends.
''Michigan was the jury, and it voted against Bush's negative tactics in South Carolina,'' said Murphy, the McCain strategist. ''And more importantly, it has shown that McCain is a far stronger candidate against Al Gore than George W. Bush, because he has shown power in Michigan, a state that really counts in the general election.''
McCain's blowout victory in Arizona was expected but still sweet for the three-term senator. Several prominent GOP officeholders, including Governor Jane Hull, were working against McCain, whose relationship with Hull has been stormy. She showed up at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum to vote right before McCain, and cast a ballot for Bush.
''Every day is do or die, we're a high-wire act, an insurgency campaign, and we've had a great, great ride, and we're proud of the positive campaign we've been running,'' the Arizona senator told reporters after voting for himself at the coliseum. ''We believe that is the way the voters will finally come down.''
McCain's advisers, however, were far more focused on Michigan, where a defeat could have crippled the campaign that had soared high after thumping Bush in New Hampshire but was badly stung in Saturday's bruising South Carolina primary. They had not had much time to recover, so their best hope was that Michigan voters would reject the anti-McCain barrage and ignore Governor John Engler's endorsement of Bush.
Davis, McCain's campaign manager, said the exit polls showed ''a total repudiation'' of the value of negative campaigning, which tarnished McCain more than Bush in South Carolina. McCain vowed to end his negative attacks, and he angrily accused Bush of ''character assassination'' when he and others allied with Bush, like evangelist Pat Robertson, did not.
''What changed from South Carolina was that the people of Michigan weren't inundated with negative attack ads by the Bush campaign and its surrogates,'' Davis said. ''So they were able to see the campaign in a relatively clear prism. We've always felt that given that opportunity, people would choose John McCain.''
If McCain calls himself a high-wire aerialist, it's his campaign that often seems to be flying without a net. Yesterday, advisers hastily plotted a course that would take McCain to Washington state on Tuesday and to the big March 7 contests in New York, California, and New England.
''We'll run full bore,'' said Weaver, McCain's political director, who thinks the senator can stay competitive with Bush because both campaigns have war chests of about $15 million. ''John is doing very well in New England, particularly in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Vermont, and naturally, all eyes will be on California.''
Though McCain is clearly exhausted from nonstop campaigning, aides tentatively scheduled a 6:15 a.m. departure today for Washington state. McCain couldn't wait to get rolling.
''What a difference a day makes!'' he boomed.
