Huffington Magazine Issue 42 | Page 40

McCain has always run toward a fight. KEITH BEDFORD/BLOOMBERG VIA GETTY IMAGES AGING BULL had run out of them. It’s why he hosts regular town hall meetings, and it’s why they are lively affairs. It is also why, four years after his loss to President Barack Obama, McCain is back at the center of Washington politics. The GOP is currently in a period of self-examination and soul-searching, and — being out of power in the White House — lacks a clear national leader. As a multitude of Republicans HUFFINGTON 03.31.13 compete for the spotlight, McCain has managed to shine just as bright as many of them. That’s despite the fact that he has less influence, as he himself admitted during an hour-long interview, than he did during the days when he was a senator who still harbored presidential ambitions. From his involvement in the immigration reform effort, to the nomination fight over Obama’s defense secretary, former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), McCain is more relevant now than he has been since he carried his party’s McCain and Sarah Palin during the Republican National Convention in 2008.