THE resurgent Republican presidential candidate, John McCain, is staking his political future on victory in the New Hampshire primary this week but he will not commit to serving more than one term in the White House if elected.

The Arizona senator, 71, is acutely aware of his pensionable age even though he is rattling around the state with vigour in the Straight Talk Express bus. “If I said I was running for eight years, I’m not sure it would be a vote-getter,” he said in an interview on board. “If it’s a reason not to vote for me, fine. I just make my case.”

The Mac is Back, as a handmade sign at a McCain rally in New Hampshire proclaimed. The original 2008 frontrunner is tipped to be the last man standing now that Republicans are taking a hard look at all their flawed candidates.

Victory would be sweet payback for those “rats who deserted the sinking ship” when his campaign imploded last summer, McCain said, but he does not want to push his luck. He is 25 years older than Barack Obama, his potential Democrat opponent, who claims to represent a new generation of voters.

The youngest Republican candidate also won in Iowa last week – Mike Huckabee, 52, the populist former preacher and ex-governor of Arkansas, who beat the high-spending but policy-lite Mitt Romney by 34% to 25%.

Huckabee’s handsome win in a state where 60% of Republican voters are evangelical Christians has set up McCain for a repeat this Tuesday of his victory in the 2000 New Hampshire primary, where voters tend to be more secular.

The McCainiacs who supported the Vietnam war hero eight years ago have reopened their houses for parties that are now attracting crowds in their hundreds, while independents are flocking to his town hall rallies.

“I don’t know if New Hampshire is ready for a woman or a black president,” said Lisa Brown, 46, a lab technician. “He’s definitely committed to the country. There are a lot of people who pander to the people they’re talking to.”

Jamie Lee Brown, 23, her daughter, said: “I’d rather have a president who is older and knows what he wants than a young person with no experience.”

After McCain’s campaign collapsed in July, he returned to New Hampshire lugging his own suitcase and vowing to “live off the land”. Carolyn Patton, 43, remembered how lonely but determined he looked. “Everybody said he was finished, but he said, ‘I’m still fighting’.” She is not deterred by his age. “My husband is 41 and he just had quadruple bypass surgery, so who’s to say?”

New Hampshire was thought to be fertile territory for Romney, the Mormon former governor of neighbouring Massachusetts, who owns a holiday home in the state. But voters are now deserting the multi-millionaire Romney despite the 8,000-10,000 local television and radio commercials he has aired.

If the presidential election becomes a contest between age and youth, McCain faces a tough challenge. But if it comes down to foreign policy experience, the seasoned politician believes he will win. “I’ve been involved in every national security issue this country has been engaged in for the last 25 years,” McCain said.

He is able to claim credit for the success of the troop surge in Iraq, which he advocated while his rivals fell silent. He also intends to take on antiwar Democrats by warning that Al-Qaeda, while on the run, has not yet been defeated. “We will never ever surrender, and they will, but it requires leadership, not on-the-job training,” he said.

McCain’s barbs are directed as much at Obama as his Republican rivals, including Huckabee, a foreign policy novice. He faces a tough battle to persuade independent voters in New Hampshire to participate in the Republican rather than Democratic primary contest.

At a silver diner, Meg Hydock, 31, said she was torn between them. “I’d like both Obama and McCain to get the momentum they need, but I can only vote for one,” she said. “I wish they could be on the same ticket.”

Hydock is leaning towards McCain. “It’s Obama’s stance on Iraq that loses me. We have a job to do and I want to make sure we don’t leave the area in a shambles,” she said. She has given up on Romney for running a soulless, negative campaign – “I can’t stand the guy now” – and is equally unhappy with Rudy Giuliani, the national frontrunner, who won an abysmal 3% and came sixth in Iowa.

“I have a real issue with the fact that Rudy has been married three times,” she said. “I’m young and I’m not a prude, but I’m married and infidelity is a big deal for me.”

McCain prides himself on being able to work with Democratic opponents, including Hillary Clinton and – to a lesser degree – Obama. On board the bus, he said his line on climate change was lifted from Tony Blair, the former Labour prime minister.

“Let’s say it’s not happening and we go green anyway. All we have done is left our kids a cleaner planet. You know who I got that line from, don’t you?” he grinned. “I told Blair I always attribute it to him, but I lied.”

McCain’s appeal to independent voters and Democrats, however, holds less charm for die-hard Republicans – an even greater weakness once the campaign moves on from New Hampshire. He is repeatedly grilled on his liberal immigration views at every house party and rally.

“The real meltdown was not the physical crisis when we ran out of money [last summer], the real problem was immigration reform,” McCain said. “That was the harmful part and I can’t help it.” But he is grateful that he got his crisis out of the way in July, unlike Giuliani and Fred Thompson, who came joint third with McCain in Iowa on 13% but who lacks a ground organisation in New Hampshire.

Giuliani has embarked on a nail-biting strategy of waiting till Florida votes later this month to chalk up a win. By then, it may be too late to romp to victory in big states such as California on February 5, Super Tuesday.

The Republican race remains extraordinarily fluid, as Huckabee’s dramatic surge in Iowa showed last week. With his unconventional views about evolution and his populist championing of the little guy, Huckabee is still nimble enough to win more Republican primaries, especially in the South.

McCain is careful not to upset his newest rival, nor alienate Huckabee’s social conservative base. “He is a very decent, fine man. He and I have significant differences, but I like the guy very much,” he said.

Should McCain lose the race, perhaps to Huckabee or Giuliani, he has already prepared his epitaph. “I hope it says on my tombstone, ‘He called Americans to serve’.”

Romney blitz

Mitt Romney has to win in New Hampshire this week to keep his presidential hopes alive. The former governor of neighbouring Massachusetts was the favourite to win the state until John McCain’s fortunes revived.

The multi-millionaire Mormon is releasing a barrage of negative advertising against McCain in the closing days of the campaign.

But a poll released yesterday showed McCain’s lead over Romney increasing by one point to 31% against 26%.

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