ohn McCain, the Arizona senator, has spent much of the past year recounting the story of his life, including 5 1/2 brutal years in a North Vietnamese prison camp. Officials with McCain's presidential campaign believe that the more people know about the story of his life, the more likely they are to believe him when he says he's going to do something as president.
Now, his campaign is moving into phase two of their strategy. On Tuesday, the GOP candidate will begin airing a 30-second ad in Boston, Manchester, N.H., and Burlington, Vt., television stations about one of McCain's favorite subjects, pork-barrel spending.
''I will refuse to sign any pork-barrel bill that crosses my desk,'' he says in a clip from his Nashua speech announcing he's running for president. ''And if Congress overrides my veto and tries to force me to waste your money, I'll make sure you know who they are, every single one of them.''
It does not seem to be an idle threat. In Washington, McCain and his Senate office scrutinize all spending bills, looking for frivolous projects - even if they are intended for Arizona. McCain has a Web site, too, that publicizes the pork-barrel projects and the senators or congressmen sponsoring them. Appropriators have even been known to warn fellow lawmakers not to push for a project unless they are willing to risk being revealed by McCain.
To the McCain campaign, the pork-barrel crusade is a badge of honor that could influence the decisions of New Hampshire primary voters on Feb. 1.
''Our view is that Republican voters care,'' said Greg Stevens, McCain's media strategist. ''They care about cutting taxes, but they care just as much about cutting waste. If anything drives Republican voters crazy, it's waste in spending.''
