McCain strikes upbeat note to rally Republicans

MIAMI (Reuters) - Republican front-runner John McCain, invigorated by victory in Florida, is planning to directly challenge rival Mitt Romney for support among conservative voters, trying to convince them of his economic credentials and electability, strategists said.

The Arizona senator, whose victory over Romney in Florida on Tuesday cemented his front-runner status in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, has had difficulty winning the support of the party's conservative base.

Facing a huge test on "Super Tuesday" next week, when voters in 21 states will make their choice for the Republican nominee for the November presidential vote, aides said McCain will try to build a coalition of independents and conservatives by lauding Reagan-era economics and pledging to defeat Islamic extremism.

"We'll be out talking about the two issues that Americans care most about, which is winning the war against radical Islamic extremism ... and the economy," said Steve Schmidt, McCain's key strategist.

Schmidt said McCain would draw on the legacy of Ronald Reagan, the Republican president whose two terms in the 1980s are revered by many in the party as a golden era, in an effort to reach out and attempt to unite the party going forward.

The maverick senator's move to woo conservatives is a direct challenge to Romney, aimed at grabbing support from voters the former Massachusetts governor considers a natural constituency. Romney has been winning among self-described conservatives in the early voting states, according to media exit polling.

"We feel as though the conservatives are starting to rally around Mitt," Romney's wife, Ann, told supporters after Tuesday's loss in Florida. "This is just a send-off point. This is not an end. This is another beginning."

McCain's victory speech in Miami was peppered with references to Reagan, who he said stood by him while he was a prisoner of war in Vietnam in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when Reagan was governor of California.

Strategists said McCain also would reach out to independent voters, where he has had strong support in the past, and even dissident Democrats by demonstrating a willingness to reach across the aisles to work with opponents.

He also will be working to convince the party faithful that he is the Republican with the best chances of defeating whichever Democrat is the party's nominee, whether New York Sen. Hillary Clinton or Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.

Senior Republicans who backed McCain in Florida said they believed opponents such as conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh, who rails against him in syndicated shows, and former Republican House Leader Tom DeLay, would ultimately rally behind him.

"Electability is a very big issue," said John Lehman, a former Navy secretary under Reagan, as he campaigned with McCain in Orlando this week.

"A huge majority of Republicans want to win, and they would rather have victory than total litmus test purity," he added.

McCain appeared confident of his ability to win over support from conservatives as he takes his campaign across the nation in coming days.

"Oh, they'll rally behind me," McCain said on his campaign bus, the Straight Talk Express.

"Most Republicans respect the process, most Republicans say 'He's the nominee of our party ... I'm going to get behind our candidate to make sure a Democrat doesn't come in.' It's a fairly natural evolution."

(Editing by David Alexander and David Wiessler)

(For more about the U.S. political campaign, visit Reuters "Tales from the Trail: 2008" online at http:/blogs.reuters.com/trail08/)