McCain: Rabble-rouser and standard-bearer

McCain loves the naval expression to "keep a steady strain" on the lines between ships. It's his way of telling aides and supporters not to get too cocky in the good times, too low when times are tough.

He's seen it all come together — and apart — more than once.

His upstart bid for the presidency in 2000 took flight in New Hampshire only to get flattened by an ugly whisper campaign against his family in South Carolina.

Waiting on Bush
He settled back into Senate business, helping create the Gang of 14 senators, Republicans and Democrats, who pulled the Senate back from the brink of a disastrous blowup over judicial nominations.

Cindy McCain says his desire to be president never really went away, but he bided his time through nearly eight years of George Bush.

"He always said if the opportunity arises again, 'I would love to try it again,"' she said. "But it wasn't like a dream he couldn't live without."

McCain's campaign for the GOP nomination this time all but destructed last summer as he ran out of money, and there was a staff exodus after a power struggle and leadership shakeup. But he battled back, carrying his own luggage and sitting in the middle seat on Southwest Airlines.

"He put the campaign on his back and climbed up a mountain alone," says good friend Sharon Harper, who lives next door to McCain in Sedona.

Web extra video Video: In his own words Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., touches upon the primary themes of his presidential campaign. NBC News Web Extra

His path to the nomination this time inevitably invited comparisons to his insurgent campaign of 2000; it seemed less freewheeling this time, more calculated.

'Refining' postions
His shifts on issues such as taxes and immigration seemed designed to placate the GOP right.

"He appears less flexible," says Kerrey. "He appears to be something different than what he was."

Former Sen. Lincoln Chafee, a Republican-turned-independent who backs Obama, credits McCain for going his own way in the Senate, but worries that in reaching out to the right during the campaign, he's "compromised his credibility."

Gary Hart, another Obama supporter, doubts McCain is a new man.

"I don't think you get to be 70 years old and then fundamentally change," says Hart. "McCain's gyrations have more to do with figuring out his own party than anything else. ... He's had to sublimate for obvious reasons."

Video   Can McCain be trusted? June 30: John McCain made claims that the 2008 election “is about trust and trusting people’s word,” but can the American people trust someone who has flip flopped?  Countdown’s Keith Olbermann discusses. Countdown

McCain bats away that notion.

"In all due respect to my colleagues," he says, "They're drinking the Kool-Aid that somehow I have changed positions on the issues. All I can say is that we all grow. We all grow wiser. And we all refine our positions."

McCain points to   his support for the surge in troops to Iraq, far from popular at its inception last year, as evidence he's unafraid to swim against the tide.

"He's attracted like a moth to the flame to the hard things," says Graham.

'I love it when the old guy wins'
When John McCain was 64, he worried in print that the maverick "act might be getting a little tired for a man of my years."

"American popular culture admits few senior citizens to its ranks of celebrated nonconformists," he wrote in his memoir. "We lack the glamorous carelessness of youth and risk becoming parodies of our younger selves."

That was eight years ago.

Does McCain worry, in 2008, that his signature persona has lost its cachet?

"I hope it means I'll still put the country first and my party second," he says. "I hope it means that I'll still do what I think is right."

McCain loves to go to the movies. He loves Hollywood endings.

Earlier this year, he and Graham went to see "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," in which the veteran archaeologist is called into action again.

"I love it when the old guy wins," Graham told McCain after the movie. McCain liked Graham's line enough to use it himself later.

McCain concedes, urges unity with Obama McCain joins Fey to joke on 'SNL' John McCain still has a shot Subscribe to McCain headlines -

Obama elected 44th president Obama campaign head gets big book deal Tears of joy, dancing in streets over Obama win Subscribe to Obama headlines -

MORE FROM THE CONVENTIONS

The conventions Section Front

MSNBC shifts Matthews, Olbermann McCain: End ‘constant partisan rancor’ NYT: Party in power, running as if it weren't Newsweek: God, Moose, Drilling. Summing up the RNC. GOP delegates ponder that unsettling 'what if?' Graham blasts Obama as defeatist ‘Community organizer’ becomes a punch line Obama raises $10 million after Palin speech NYT: Foreign policy factions divide GOP John McCain's acceptance speech The conventions Section Front   Add The conventions headlines to your news reader: