The recent Veterans' Day holiday in the US was a good day for Republican Senator and presidential candidate John McCain, showing that his fellow veterans may prove key in his bid to overtake frontrunner George W Bush.

Senator McCain was in New Hampshire where the hardy folk of the Granite State like their politicians to be hardy characters. And that is what John McCain is.

McCain campaigns heavily on patriotic issues

Veterans have embraced one of their own. The son and grandson of admirals, he was a natural for the US Navy.

He became a pilot and was shot down by a missile over North Vietnam in 1967, where he spent five years as a prisoner, two of them in solitary confinement.

His book, Faith of my Fathers, has just been published and is selling well, telling the story of his survival.

John McCain was always a man to be reckoned with, and now he is a candidate which the Republican frontrunner, the Texas governor George W Bush, has to reckon with.

For the McCain banner is advancing in New Hampshire, site of the first presidential primary on 1 February.

Among his own

Senator McCain began the day remembering sacrifices by the nation's soldiers with a breakfast at a veterans' hall. Here, John McCain was among his own.

He spoke about honour, duty and country. It went down well.

As he sat signing his book afterwards, one man stood waiting as his copy was signed. He was almost unable to talk. Then he got one word out. "Outstanding," he said. Emboldened, he said it again. Then he left with his precious autograph.

Another man, disabled with braces on his legs, was also watching. David Moorhead told me he was wounded in Vietnam, he now stood by a pillar with tears in his eyes.

"We really need this man," he told me, "We have been screwed up by our leadership for too long." The tears rolled down his cheeks.

Hero figure

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It is that sort of adulation that is propelling the McCain campaign. Veterans form about 20% of the registered Republican vote, and John McCain is determined to get most of them.

He went on to a home for disabled veterans, accompanied by several fellow former POWs. They all spoke highly of him.

Also along for the day as warm-up speaker was a singer I remember hearing many years ago, Conny Stevens, still an all-American girl, but now in, one guesses, her 50s. Still looking good.

For all these folk, McCain is a hero and they want him to be the president.

Strong stands

On the campaign bus, John McCain sat back and tackled a couple of Dunkin' Donuts. He talks easily with the reporters who crowd round. He loves to express his strong views on all subjects.

It was McCain who stood out early on in the Kosovo conflict by saying that a ground war could not be ruled out.

On the bus that day, he suddenly said: " I want to talk about Chechnya." He proposed refusing IMF funds to Russia because, he said, they were fighting a dirty war.

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But he also criticised Nato for its "immoral" tactics in bombing from above 15,000ft (5,000 metres). Typical, forceful views.

And he talked more widely, too, telling me that he had just read John Keegan's history of the First World War. He spoke of the McCain clan being driven out of Scotland in the 17th Century by the "dastardly" Campbells.

"I can fly into a rage when I meet a Campbell," he joked, in reference to his well-known and well-criticised temper.

Waging a guerrilla campaign

Senator McCain is a man who makes enemies as well as friends. He attacks the Washington lobbyists and wants campaign finance reform, though he himself once took money from one of them, he admits.

It is part of an approach that appeals to a desire among voters for an "authentic" candidate.

He counts on George Bush being seen too much as the party man. McCain wants to appeal to the people.

The bus stopped for the senator to join the Veterans Day parade down Main Street Nashua.

The former pilot and POW was in his element. The crowds along the way cheered the bands and the soldiers -- and they cheered him.

The question remains, though - even if John McCain does well in New Hampshire, can he really topple George Bush?