McCain Gets a Military Hand in South Carolina

Sun, January 13, 2008 - 9:32 AM

John Warner is going back on the campaign trail -- but the senior senator from Virginia hasn't changed his mind about retiring. Warner will stump in South Carolina for his fellow member of the Armed Services Committee and presidential candidate John McCain, R-Ariz.

South Carolina has the fifth-fastest-growing veterans population in the country, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That constituency could be helpful to McCain after his victory in the New Hampshire primary. South Carolina's first-in-the-South Republican primary is Jan. 19.

Warner, a former Navy secretary, will remind votes of McCain’s military career, but as importantly, Warner can showcase how McCain applied his military experience to policy work on the Senate committee.

Warner’s work for McCain could also bring a less positive issue to mind -- age. Warner is 80; McCain is 71. Among the military retirees along coastal South Carolina, age may be a good thing.

Today, Warner is scheduled to hold a “meet and greet” at Blackstone’s Café in Beaufort and another at Sun City Hilton Head Republican Club.

Monday, Warner will attend two events for McCain in Charleston – one at The Citadel.


--Neil H. Simon