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McCain channeling all his luck toward 2008 race

By Joseph Curl
April 16, 2008

United Press International Sen. John McCain, the likely Republican nominee, carries a lucky penny, nickel and quarter, among other trinkets. He might have accrued a lucky dime on the campaign trail in January, were it not heads down.

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Don't try to pass a salt shaker to John McCain. He won't take it from your hand because it's bad luck.

The Arizona senator also won't throw a hat on a bed — it means death will soon visit the household — but he regularly carries 31 cents in lucky change in his pocket.

Now the presumptive Republican presidential nominee has converted his staff to his famously superstitious ways. Whenever anyone says something optimistic — especially about this fall's general election — a slew of staffers join him in knocking on wood.

"That's an ugly habit I've picked up myself," Brooke Buchanan, the senator's national press secretary, said with a laugh. "We were in Kansas City ... and someone mentioned winning in November, and three of us knocked on wood. We don't want to jinx anything. We're all very superstitious people."

Top adviser Mark Salter also has been influenced.

"I grew a beard in 2000 and didn't shave until the campaign was over, and I did it this time, too. That's my little superstition. I probably won't shave it until November," he said, adding that he's not sure if Mr. McCain "considers it lucky, or if he considers it an eyesore."

Mr. McCain has dozens of superstitions and rituals, many stemming from his days as a Navy fighter pilot, a notoriously superstitious bunch. He carries a lucky feather, a lucky compass and a lucky penny — not to mention a lucky nickel and a lucky quarter.

"He had so many of them that we had to cut down. It was like a change purse in his pocket," Miss Buchanan said, laughing.

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