“Ted Kennedy was the lion of the Senate; this guy is the conscience of the Senate”

But other Republicans who are fond of McCain or Republicans who are not — and they are legion — agree that his commitment to country, as demonstrated by his heroism in Vietnam, is high among the reasons they seek his counsel. Democrats respect him for his consistent willingness to jab his own party as vigorously as he jabs theirs.

“He’s willing to take a position that’s different from most of his caucus, and there’s not a whole lot of folks that that’s true of, whether it’s Democrats or Republicans,” said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Armed Services Committee on which McCain serves as the ranking Republican.

The day after McCain lost the presidency to Barack Obama, in November 2008, he gathered with his closest supporters and advisers in Sedona, Ariz., north of Phoenix. Republican consultant Charlie Black and his wife, invited by McCain to join him, made the trip.

For the next day and a half, Black recalls, McCain made phone calls, mostly to thank the teams of people that had supported his White House bid, which he had pursued in some form or another for 10 years. But by Thursday afternoon, Black said, less than 48 hours after his devastating defeat, McCain and Graham were sitting together in the senator’s summer home plotting the legislation they wanted to propose in the next Congress.