Thad Cochran changes his tune on John McCain
Thad Cochran, the mild-mannered senior U.S. senator from Mississippi, made news in late January with this comment about his Senate colleague and fellow Republican, John McCain: "The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He is erratic. He is hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me."
Not enough, though, to keep him from joining the McCain bandwagon today shortly after Cochran's first choice in his party's presidential race, Mitt Romney, folded his tent. Here's the e-mail Cochran sent out (a message that doesn't hide where his heart still lies):
"I am supporting John McCain for the Republican nomination for President. I supported Romney because I thought he would be the better choice for President. He had been a successful Governor of Massachusetts and was a successful businessman before that. I thought he was what we needed in a chief executive, one who could help improve our economy and create new jobs."
We don't expect to see Cochran performing much surrogate work for McCain on the campaign trail.
-- Don Frederick
Don Frederick has served as an editor helping guide coverage of every presidential election since 1984. He is a third-generation Washingtonian, so watching the political world comes naturally to him.
Andrew Malcolm's immigrant parents repeatedly stressed the importance of active participation in a democracy. Early lessons included learning the alphabetical list of states by watching televised roll calls of national political conventions. That childhood exposure led to a lifelong fascination with politics, including 40-plus years of covering them and a brief stint practicing them as press secretary to Laura Bush in 1999-2000.
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