ACKSONVILLE, Fla. - With the same contrarian spirit that Senator John McCain showed throughout the campaign that ended yesterday, his old roommate at the ''Hanoi Hilton,'' former Navy captain Dick Stratton, says he still plans to vote for McCain in Tuesday's Florida primary ''to stick it in Bush's ear.''
But after making this final, defiant gesture, Stratton - like other McCain friends in the sea of retired military personnel here - seems prepared to support Texas Governor George W. Bush in the fall.
''There was tremendous enthusiasm about John among retired military people,'' Stratton said in an interview. ''But we knew it was a long shot from the word go.''
A loquacious native of Quincy, Stratton has a special bond with McCain. As prisoners of war, they kept up one another's morale through years of torture and confinement. Last month, Stratton spent several days campaigning with the candidate in South Carolina. ''Right after Bush said John had done nothing for the military, I wanted to help put the lie to that,'' Stratton said, referring to comments by a supporter of Bush who criticized McCain as a poor advocate for veterans.
Yet Stratton indicated that Bush would be an acceptable alternative, and he sounded philosophical about the news that McCain's campaign had run out of momentum before reaching the Florida primary. ''We had limited resources. I understood that.'' Referring to Bush's brother, the governor of Florida, he added, ''We knew this was Jeb Bush country. Jeb's got the place locked up.''
For a brief moment, though, Northern Florida looked as though it might be McCain country.
During his career as a Navy pilot, McCain flew out of Pensacola Naval Air Station as well as Cecil Field, once a Navy air base here. While he was imprisoned by the North Vietnamese after being shot down over Hanoi, McCain's first wife, and his children from that marriage, spent much of their time in Jacksonville.
When the Arizona senator came to Jacksonville late last year for a book signing to celebrate his autobiography, ''Faith Of My Fathers,'' more than 1,000 supporters stood in line to meet him. ''He stayed until the last one came through,'' recalled Stratton, who is present in McCain's book. ''Then we had a fund-raiser at the River Club. John raised $50,000. When Bush came here, he raised $450,000.''
Though many McCain voters across the country have demonstrated a reluctance to move quickly into Bush's column, the Texas governor appears to be in position to inherit many of McCain's core supporters in Florida, the fourth most heavily-populated state in the nation.
''People who look at it from a military perspective - who were either for Bush or McCain - are going to be far more favorable to Bush,'' said a retired rear admiral who lives in Jacksonville but asked not to be named. ''There's a belief that we need to stop the hollowness in the military. There's a strong attitude in northeast Florida for a change in administrations.''
The leader of the McCain campaign in Florida, Robert Milligan, a retired Marine Corps general who now serves as state comptroller, described the military factor in Florida politics as ''quite substantial.''
There are believed to be at least 65,000 retired military men and women living in predominantly Republican Duval County, which includes Jacksonville. More than 1.2 million veterans live in Florida, which has a voting population of 8.2 million.
''We had a strategy to capitalize on a number of districts where we felt John could do well, places with military folks, senior citizens, and Hispanics,'' Milligan said, a wistful note in his voice.
But as word spread yesterday that McCain had suspended operations, his campaign began to dismantle those efforts and canceled an appearance the candidate had scheduled in the state Sunday.
