McCain files papers to explore 2008 bid

WASHINGTON – Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., took the first formal steps toward a 2008 presidential campaign Thursday and used a pair of speeches before Republican audiences to argue that his brand of conservative, reform-minded politics and hawkish foreign policy can restore the GOP to power.

On a day when he filed papers to set up a 2008 presidential exploratory committee, McCain served notice to rivals for the GOP nomination that he intends to move aggressively to put his stamp on a party in the process of rebuilding.

McCain said voters punished Republicans last week for having become intoxicated with power, and he urged a return to what he called common-sense conservative principles espoused by former President Ronald Reagan.

“Americans had elected us to change government, and they rejected us because they believed government had changed us,” he said. McCain also offered a vigorous defense of his call for sending more troops to Iraq.

McCain’s moves Thursday were the latest evidence suggesting the 2008 presidential campaign will accelerate to warp speed earlier than any in recent history. Last week, former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani formed a presidential exploratory committee, and Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, a Democrat, filed a statement of candidacy.

Other prospective candidates are moving quickly to make final decisions about running. Among Democrats, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., said publicly this week she will begin to weigh a run for the White House. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., who said last month that he will consider running, has been calling into New Hampshire and casting about for possible staff in the event that he decides to go.

Many other Democrats also are close to final decisions to run, among them the party’s 2004 presidential and vice presidential nominees, Sen. John F. Kerry, D-Mass., and former Sen. John Edwards, N.C., Sens. Joseph Biden, Del., Evan Bayh, Ind., and Christopher Dodd, Conn., and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.

On the Republican side, outgoing Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has been nearly as systematic as McCain in beginning to organize support in states that will hold early primaries or caucuses in 2008.

Other Republicans, including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, outgoing Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, outgoing New York Gov. George Pataki, and retiring Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, have signaled they are weighing candidacies.