A contest over who will reform Washington

As Sen. John McCain of Arizona continues to sharpen his message, it's becoming increasingly clear that the November election will not be so much about "change" as it will be about what kind of change and who can best bring it about.

The Democrats and Barack Obama, in their every description of McCain, have tried to paint him in lock step with President Bush at a time when both the economy and discord over the war in Iraq make that kind of political alliance unwinnable.

But as much as we like Obama, the attempted link of McCain to Bush is simplistic and a stretch.

Yes, McCain has supported Bush on the issue of waging war in Iraq, although he was sharply critical until "the surge" of the manner in which the war was executed.

And yes, McCain is generally conservative and because of that, his views generally are more in line with those of George Bush than Obama's would be.

But this is not a man joined at the hip with the president.

Like everyone, McCain has his flaws and he can legitimately can be criticized for many of them. And his perspective is open to disagreement.

But his maverick reputation isn't just a concoction for this year's campaign. Remember the sizzling battle between McCain and Bush in the 2000 GOP primaries? It seemed real at the time, didn't it?

And earlier this year, remember how the right wing decried McCain's primary victories and openly threatened to sit out the election rather than support McCain? At one time, Ann Coulter even said she would support Hillary Clinton before she'd campaign for McCain.

Throughout his tenure in the Senate, McCain has displayed his streak of independence. His voting record in the current Senate, according to the washingtonpost.com Votes Database, shows he's voted with his party 88.3 percent of the time. That means he broke with his party more often than 64 of his colleagues. During the 109th Congress from 2005-2006, he voted with his party 79.4 percent of the time; only five other senators voted against their party more often.

By comparison, Obama seldom has split with Democratic Party ranks, with party line percentages of 96 percent in 2007-2008 and 94.8 percent in 2005-2006. Those put him 11th and 4th respectively in party allegiance.

This isn't intended as an endorsement of McCain or a rejection of Obama.

They're both strong candidates, and frankly, we endorsed each in their primary contests last winter. We like them both.

But it is intended to say, let's focus on the real issues of this campaign.

Washington does need reform. We need to reduce the influence of lobbyists and special interests, to reform the way government budgets and spends money, to end the partisanship that cuts off meaningful debate, to re-engineer an ineffective bureaucracy, to open government and to protect the citizenry from government excess.

We believe both candidates understand that.

The issue isn't what we need to do. The real issue is how.