In McCain family, pride rises as reality of campaign sinks in

ST. PAUL, MINN.

If you looked in the right direction, at just the right moment, you could see the realization officially sink in.

It was evident in the facial expressions of the roughly 30 members of John McCain’s family present at the Xcel Energy Center on Thursday night to hear the Arizona senator accept the Republican nomination for president.

That unmistakably joyous reaction was this: Their son/husband/father/brother/grandfather is two months away from possibly being elected president of the United States.

“Immense pride” is how Virginia Beach resident Doug McCain, the oldest son of the nominee, described the feeling in an interview.

On the eve of the speech, he predicted there would be “some misty eyes .”

Signs of relief and satisfaction were also etched on their faces as McCain spoke of his vision for the country and completed one leg of the political journey he has been on for years.

Then, as the red, white and blue balloons dropped and confetti filled the air, the McCain family savored the sounds and sights of their patriarch’s moment.

Doug McCain, 48, his wife and two children – a daughter in college and a son in ninth grade at Norfolk Academy – have been in St. Paul since Sunday, basking in the atmosphere .

Doug McCain anticipates strong support for his father in Hampton Roads, where the candidate performed well in the 2000 primary, despite losing the state to Bush.

He believes the region’s voters – many with connections to the military – will relate to McCain’s “honor and integrity” and his habit of doing “what he thinks is best for the country” regardless of “the political consequences.”

This convention – the third the family has attended since 2000, when McCain lost the GOP nomination to George W. Bush – appears to be the one they’ve enjoyed the most, for obvious reasons.

They’ve received star treatment as relatives of the party standard bearer: McCain, 72, a U.S. senator and former Navy pilot who survived more than five years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam.

Doug McCain said his children were “enjoying some of the perks of being related to … the nominee.”

Those benefits include “not being asked to stand in line or go through security,”

he said, noting they also better understand and appreciate the experience because they are older than they were in 2000.

Doug McCain, who was adopted by his father, is one of seven McCain children. The University of Virginia graduate was raised in Florida.

A 1985 assignment to Oceana Naval Air Station brought him to Hampton Roads, where he planted permanent roots after finishing his career as a naval aviator several years later.

Today, he works as a commercial pilot for American Airlines, often flying to far-flung destinations such as London and Tokyo.

In his spare time, he can often be found surfing. It’s an avocation that he’s ready to return to before the water gets too cold.

Once back in Virginia, Doug McCain also will work on his father’s campaign, doing everything from exalted tasks such as courting donors to mundane but necessary chores such as putting signs in storefronts and sending e-mails and making telephone calls to supporters.

So now, eight years and three conventions removed from the disappointment of 2000, is the third time the charm for his father?

“Let’s hope,” he said.

Julian Walker, (804) 697-1564, julian.walker@pilotonline.com