For everyone wondering whether John McCain would run for re-election to the U.S. Senate after that grueling presidential campaign — wonder no more.

 He’s in.  And he’s asking for help.

The Arizona Republican sent an email to supporters on Tuesday, making clear his intention to defend his Senate seat in 2010.

 ”The magnitude of the financial crisis that many American families are facing makes it clear to me that I want to continue to serve our country in the Senate,” McCain wrote.

McCain vowed to counter efforts by congressional Democrats who he said would increase spending and waste billion of taxpayers dollars.

“With so much at stake, now is not the time to step away from my work in the Senate,” he said.

The senator extended an invitation to supporters to join his  team and to contribute by “donating  $25, $50, $100, $250, $500 or more to my re-election campaign.”

Photo credit:REUTERS/Mitch Dumke

PRESCOTT, Az. - Republican John McCain ended a seven-state cross country sprint in the wee hours of Tuesday morning with an appeal to his home state to send him to the White House.

The 72-year-old senator, whose partially hoarse voice was the only visible sign of the long day he had behind him, expressed confidence in his chances of victory despite polls that show him behind Democratic rival Barack Obama.

“I’m confident because I’ve seen the momentum, my friends,” he told the cheering crowd, roughly 1,500 strong. “All we’ve got to do is get out the vote.”

The enormity of the moment, however, after a nearly 2-year campaign was not lost on his wife, Cindy, who choked up as she introduced her husband.

Obama recently started television advertising in Arizona, sensing weakness in his opponent’s position at home. Several hundred Obama supporters held a counter-rally of their own across the street.

McCain urged the crowd to make sure he carried his stage “in a big way” and promised to end a history of bad luck that previous White House hopefuls from Arizona — Barry Goldwater, Mo Udall and Bruce Babbitt — have experienced.

“Tomorrow, we’re going to reverse that unhappy tradition and I’m going to be the president of the United States,” he said.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.

For John McCain, the road to the White House ends in Prescott, Arizona.

The Arizona senator caps a frantic, final day of campaigning on Monday with a midnight rally on the courthouse steps in the old territorial capital, where he has concluded his earlier campaigns for Senate.

The courthouse plaza has hosted other notable rallies. Former Sen. Barry Goldwater, the 1964 presidential candidate who McCain regards as a role model, ended his campaigns there as well, as did members of the state’s Udall dynasty.

“It’s got great historical significance in Arizona,” said McCain adviser Mark Salter.

Though rich in symbolism, the rally will come at the cost of the rarest of commodities in the final days of a presidential campaign: sleep.

The rally wraps up at 1:15 a.m. on Tuesday morning, and the campaign won’t reach his home city of Phoenix until 1:45. That’s 20 hours after the day’s first rally in Tampa.

Tuesday’s schedule looks a bit more forgiving. McCain has only two tasks that day: vote, and wait for the the results to come in.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage. 

Photo credit REUTERS/Brian Snyder. McCain speaks at rally in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, Nov. 2, 2008

WASHINGTON - When the voting ends in Tuesday’s presidential election, the campaigning will just begin for one and possibly two Senate seats.

That’s because whoever wins the White House, one or two Senate vacancies will be created.

If Democratic Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois is victorious, he will have to vacate his Senate seat, as will his vice presidential running mate Joseph Biden of Delaware. If Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona scores a come-from-behind White House win, he’ll do the same.

Replacements for any of the three men will probably be up to three Democratic governors: Rod Blagojevich in Illinois, Janet Napolitano in Arizona and probably Ruth Ann Minner in Delaware.

Minner leaves office on the day the next president and vice president are to be sworn in, Jan. 20. It’s unclear whether she or her successor would fill a Biden vacancy since it’s not certain when Delaware’s new governor will take office that day.

Regardless, the governors’ decisions are not likely to have any impact on the political makeup of the Senate. Minner and Blagojevich likely would name Democrats if they have to replace Obama and Biden, while Arizona state law requires Napolitano to choose someone in the same party as the predecessor, in this case a Republican.

All of the appointments would be for two years. Among the possibilities in each state:

Illinois: Reps. Jesse Jackson, Jr. and Janice Schakowsky; Iraq war veteran Tammy Duckworth, who narrowly lost a 2006 House race; and Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan.

Delaware: Biden’s son, Delaware Attorney General Joseph “Beau” Biden. He’s currently serving National Guard duty in Iraq, which could be problematic.

Arizona: Gov. Napolitano must name a Republican and ex-Rep. Jim Kolbe is among those who have been mentioned. When he retired from Congress in 2006, he was the only openly gay Republican in the House. In 2010, Napolitano could challenge whoever she appoints, as she reportedly has her eye on the Senate seat.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage. 

- Photo credit: Reuters/Brian Snyder

MEXICO CITY - Rain may ruin a parade, but it won’t ruin a press conference - at least not for John McCain.

The Republican U.S. presidential candidate closed up his short swing through Colombia and Mexico on Thursday with a “media avail” in a hangar, against a background of helicopters and fast police cars.

A media avail, for the uninitiated, is short for “availability” - another word for a news conference. And the Arizona senator likes to give them.   

But Thursday’s had an unexpected glitch from Mother Nature: pouring rain pounded down on the hangar, drowning out the journalists’ questions and the senator’s answers.

So he paused to wait it out. But there were schedules to keep, and once it seemed clear the clouds were not closing up soon, McCain motioned for the journalists to move up close to the raised platform where he stood.

So they did - sitting on the floor and tossing questions upward, which McCain answered over the noise. Odd venue or not, he didn’t make a lot of news, commenting on drug trafficking and a recent shake-up in his campaign staff.

Asked for his take on the campfire-like scene, McCain said it was “certain the most unusual” press conference he had ever held.

Photo credit: Reuters/Daniel Aguilar.  Arizona Sen. John McCain and his wife Cindy smile during a press conference in Mexico City. 

WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush will hit the campaign trail next week to rustle up some badly needed cash for Republican candidates — including presidential hopeful John McCain — but catching a glimpse of him in action will be fleeting.

Bush will crisscross the Rocky Mountains Tuesday through Thursday from New Mexico to Arizona to Utah to Kansas raising money for McCain at three events and Republican congressional candidates at two others. They are all closed to the media.

“The reason that they’re closed is that the McCain campaign has a practice of having their fundraisers as closed press,” said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino. Bush has permitted the media attend fundraisers at hotels and other similar venues but not at private residences (like the other two fundraisers on the trip).

Bush and McCain will attend one fundraiser together (in Arizona), she said,  but it remains unclear whether the two will be seen in public together.

“Stay tuned for the details … when we arrive or when we depart, I think there will be a chance,” Perino said. McCain has lagged his Democratic rivals in raising campaign cash — he pulled in $18.5 million in April while New York Sen. Hillary Clinton brought in $21 million and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama received $30.7 million.

McCain has been trying to shake accusations from Democrats that he would represent a third term of Bush, so he could choose to avoid a photo opportunity during their get-together on Tuesday.

Congressional Republicans have also been facing a fairly grim outlook, with more than two dozen members of the House of Representatives leaving, either retiring or seeking another office.  That has made it even harder to narrow or reverse the 236-199 advantage Democrats have in the House. Meanwhile, Republicans in the Senate must defend 23 seats while Democrats have 12 seats to guard. 

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage. 

- Photo credit: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst (McCain listens to Bush at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in April.)