SMART MOVE – AT 9:31 A.M. ET:  Mitt Romney, clearly a candidate for president in 2012, is endorsing the reelection campaign of John McCain in Arizona:

(CNN) - Mitt Romney endorsed Sen. John McCain, one of the former Massachussetts governor's main competitors for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, for re-election to the U.S. Senate on Tuesday.

"Senator McCain's record of service and sacrifice for America is honored by all," Romney said in a statement. "But I believe that it is his core values of courage, faith and honor – forged in battle and confirmed by a lifetime of service to America – that make Senator McCain's leadership in the United States Senate so necessary in these perilous times."

Romney said it is "hard to imagine the United States Senate without John McCain."

McCain faced off with Romney in 16 Republican primary debates but bowed out of the primary race after the Super Tuesday contests.

McCain faces a primary challenge from former Rep. J.D. Hayworth.

COMMENT:  Smart move on Romney's part, smart and gutsy.  I'm aware that John McCain doesn't always please us.  I'm aware that he ran a poor presidential campaign, although it's hard to see how any Republican could have won in 2008 with the media deck stacked so completely against him. 

But McCain, with all his faults, is a symbol of something very special in American life – American courage and greatness.  You don't throw a man like that overboard, especially to choose the ethically challenged J.D. Hayworth.  And you don't knife your presidential nominee.  Parties that do that, especially when you're talking about a man like McCain, are not held in high regard by the public.

Romney understands McCain's symbolism.  He also realizes that McCain, if running against Obama today, might well win, and the voters have now seen the real Obama.

In 1968, when Hubert Humphrey ran against Richard Nixon, I received a postcard from one of my mentors, former Senator Paul Douglas of Illinois, a card sent to many.  Humphrey was behind in the polls.  A cold-war liberal, he had served as vice president and U.S. senator honorably, especially in the fight against Communism. (He had also been Barry Goldwater's closest friend in the Senate.)  But a group of petty left-wing Democrats – the kind who later took over the party – were trying to undercut him because he favored the war in Vietnam.  Mr. Douglas asked, "How can you turn your back on this man?"

I ask the same question about McCain. 

February 23, 2010