I'm more of a fan of the Republican Party's Early Work

If McCain wants to score some points with the college-age kids, he needs to go underground to a more obscure Republican figure. I'm thinking Rutherford B. Hayes. He could re-work Hayes' famous quote from his 1864 congressional campaign (while Hayes was in the midst of the mildly more important Shenandoah Campaign): "I have other business just now. Any man who would leave the army at this time to electioneer for Congress ought to be scalped" to something about suspending his campaign to help the economy.

Or something like that.