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Opinion | Felice Belman

McCain proves the press wrong — twice

John McCain in 2008.Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images

One thing about political journalists: We think we know it all. Seen it all, done it all, nothing new under the sun. We think we can’t be surprised. But we are thrilled when proven wrong. In New Hampshire, John McCain managed to prove us wrong twice: first in 2000, when he was running against a former president’s son; and then again in 2008 against the state’s well-funded, well-regarded neighbor to the south, Mitt Romney.

The 2000 New Hampshire presidential primary campaign was going to be a big one, with or without John McCain. George W. Bush was in it. So was Al Gore. Bill Bradley — remember him? — seemed like he could appeal to the cool crowd, Democrats and independents who found Gore ponderous and dull. There were other pols who toyed with running that year. In fact, at the Concord Monitor, the small New Hampshire paper where I worked at the time, the candidate everyone really wanted to cover was Elizabeth Dole, whose presidential campaign never got off the ground.

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It was my job to figure out which reporters to assign to which candidates. Don’t tell her, but the young woman we assigned to McCain got the assignment especially because she was so green. The veteran reporters would get Bush and Gore and Bradley — those most likely to actually run a serious campaign. Ha! That was before McCain’s Straight Talk Express bus took off, to the delight of voters and journalists too. We considered moving a more senior reporter onto the beat but -- like McCain himself — the young journalist on his tail had risen to the occasion and turned herself into a serious player. On Election Night, our editorial cartoonist drew the scene: The N.H. GOP was about to coronate George W. Bush, who was dressed in royal robes. But from off stage came a gleeful McCain, twirling a long cane, which he used to yank the crown off poor George’s head. The caption read: “McCained.”

Eight years later, you might think political journalists would have been cautious about writing off McCain, but truth be told, he seemed to be in a world of hurt. A midyear meltdown had left his campaign broke. He’d fired half his staff. He was booking commercial flights. He had sponsored immigration legislation that was unpopular with many Republicans. At a dreary summer chamber of commerce speech in Concord, N.H., the national media had come to write his political obituary. And his speech that day — about the need for a new surge of troops in Iraq — no doubt left many voters uneasy. What could he do? Get back on that low-rent bus. Talk to New Hampshire voters wherever he could find them. Remind them how courageous and fun and funny he could be. And it worked.

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“John almost died on the (USS) Forrestal, he almost died in Vietnam, and this summer, he almost died in New Hampshire. But he came back all three times. The Mac is back!” former congressman Chuck Douglas told McCain’s victory party in 2008. “For a guy 71 years old, that means he has six more lives.”

McCain didn’t become president that year — or any year — but his lesson to political journalists back then is even more relevant today: If you think you know what’s going to happen, think again.

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Felice Belman is the Globe’s deputy managing editor for local news.