HAMPTON, N.H. -- In the ballroom of the Ashworth By the Sea hotel, a sandy-haired boy sweetly asks Sen. John McCain if he would cut military spending to put more money into "school education for children like me."
It is a made-for-Hollywood campaign moment: Adorable child meets earnest presidential candidate while innocently asking for help to be a better boy. All the more startling, then, when McCain leans down to the child and barks, "No!"
The harshness of the gesture was a joke, but its substance was not. McCain would pay more for education only by cutting other programs such as the ethanol subsidy, which he considers unnecessary and wasteful. But military cuts are not in the plan for this former Navy flier and war hero.
So what if saying so gives a Cub Scout the cold sweats? The Arizona senator's gamble is that straight talk will pay off.
"He's not afraid," said Mike Murphy, a senior campaign strategist. "He never operates from fear, which means he can take advantage of tough situations. He's not afraid of being himself, which is the key to all this."
McCain has led in the New Hampshire polls for months, and the Republican primary Tuesday is seen as his to lose. But just days before the contest, his chief rival, Gov. George W. Bush of Texas, has shown signs of closing the gap in ever-tightening polls.
McCain is gambling that nine months of relentless statewide campaigning, no-nonsense messages and more than 100 town hall meetings will make him more than just a temporary New Hampshire celebrity.
He's banking on being a winner.
"As I've said before, they bounce," McCain said of a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll yesterday that had him 1 point behind Bush after being 5 points ahead the day before. "I've always predicted this could be a very close race."
On his crowded campaign bus, McCain has taken to repeating the exuberant line, "Happy, happy, joy, joy!" He borrowed it from a cartoon his children watch, but it seems to sum up the mood over the past week.
His energy shows no signs of flagging. Hammering on campaign-finance abuses, a recurring theme of his campaign, he offers himself as the principled choice over Bush. McCain offers his candidacy as a Homeric odyssey to reform.
"The only way I'm going to prevail is to win the battle of ideals over the battle of bucks. How do you do that?" he asks a packed banquet room at Yoken's restaurant in Portsmouth.
