As a viewer, McCain was amused by the Russian. As a politician, he is the Russian–on the run in a life-and-death battle with the Family: Republican leaders and President George W. Bush. Inspired by his crusading 2000 campaign, angry at what he thinks were Bush’s dirty tactics, adored by the media and egged on by advisers who share his reformist agenda and his love of the limelight, McCain is war-gaming options that include bolting the party–and another run for president, in 2004, this time as an independent.

Like a commando in the woods, McCain is taking one tree at a time. In an interview with NEWSWEEK last week, he openly discussed the conditions that would lead him to leave the GOP, even as he insisted he had no “cause” and no desire to do so. The refusal of party leaders to give him a House vote on his campaign-finance-reform bill wouldn’t force him out of the GOP. “I think it would not be enough,” he said. “It would have to be a combination: that, and an exclusion of moderates, and a message of exclusion. It would have to be an accumulation of things that would force me out of the party, and right now I don’t envision that scenario transpiring.”

The next tree is his congressional agenda. For that, McCain is making common cause with Democrats on policy and personal levels. He voted against Bush’s $1.35 trillion tax plan, denouncing it with a populist flourish. He’s lining up opposite the White House on drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (he’s against it), to a patient’s bill of rights (he’s sponsoring the version Bush opposes) and the “gun-show loophole” (he’s for a compromise bill to close it). He praises the intellect of, and brags about his close ties to, the new Democratic committee chairmen, including Lieberman, Levin and Dodd.

McCain is setting himself up as a power broker, or at least the center of Senate attention. He saves his most effusive praise for Democrat Tom Daschle, the new Senate leader. “He says he wants bipartisan compromise and I see no reason not to take him at his word,” McCain told NEWSWEEK. The South Dakotan periodically tries to coax McCain into switching parties. Last weekend at McCain’s ranch near Sedona, Ariz., Daschle had another chance: he and his wife were overnight guests. Another was Bruce Reed, Bill Clinton’s domestic-policy guru who could help shape an independent agenda.

When he leaves the ranch, McCain is drawn inexorably to combat. He’s told political aide John Weaver to quit feuding with the White House’s Karl Rove, but McCain vows to stand by him regardless. He accuses the White House of systematically denying jobs to anyone who worked in his campaign. “They’re going after kids in their 20s,” McCain fumes. (Administration officials deny that there are automatic “red flags” against McCainanites.) McCain says he’s learned to control his anger, but he scrutinizes The Hotline for potshots from GOP bigwigs.

Indeed, most GOP leaders view McCain as an untrustworthy, media-obsessed crybaby. But few will say so publicly. In Arizona a smattering of locals now talk of challenging him from the right, yet the man they want to challenge him–Rep. Steve Shaddeg–told NEWSWEEK that he wouldn’t do it. From Bush on down, GOP leaders are holding their fire. A private Bush-McCain dinner is still planned. GOP Senate leaders vow to work with McCain, and keep him in the fold. “This is just venting,” said one GOP senator. “He’s not going anywhere.”

They shouldn’t be too sure. After last year’s campaign, McCain mused privately about what might have happened had he run a Third Way candidacy. Weaver thinks he would have won. At a recent private weekend get-together in Arizona, aides discussed the same idea. Asked if he’d ever run as an independent, he gave NEWSWEEK a flat “no.” But he remains intrigued. “Ask him again,” said one top aide. “It depends on what day you talk to him.”

The McCain scenarios get wilder. One Senate friend told NEWSWEEK McCain has talked about seeking the Democratic nomination. “I know he’s looked at our field and said to himself, ‘I could take these guys’,” this senator said. “But the bottom line is, he doesn’t really know where he’s headed.” And maybe that’s not a bad thing. It’s mystery, after all, that makes the buzz that makes a TV series. Just look at “The Sopranos”–or the John McCain show.

Correction

In our June 11 story “Is McCain Off the Range?” (NEWS OF THE WEEK), we incorrectly stated the name of Arizona Rep. John Shadegg. We regret the error.