The Goldwater-McCain Connection

PETERBOROUGH, N.H., Nov. 2 Maybe John McCain is taking this Barry Goldwater thing just a bit too far.

He won the conservative icon's Senate seat from Arizona when Goldwater retired in 1986, and he has held Goldwater as a role model ever since. On Monday night, McCain will end his presidential campaign in the Arizona town where Goldwater launched his '64 presidential run. And, if the polls are right -- a big "if," admittedly -- McCain is about to emulate his mentor in another way: He could be heading for the worst presidential defeat of a Republican since Goldwater.

In the final hours, McCain's campaign is teetering between long shot and lost cause, and by some measures the candidate seems to be embracing the Goldwater ideal of noble failure.

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-- Dana Milbank

By Dana Milbank |  November 3, 2008; 12:00 AM ET
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