COLEBROOK, N.H.--Arizona senator and Republican presidential candidate John S. McCain finished a three-day swing through New Hampshire with a talk to local Republicans Sunday, seeking support for his candidacy and for his signature issue, campaign finance reform.

At campaign events across the state, McCain blasted the current campaign finance system, calling it "an incumbent protection racket" beholden to special interests and promised that as president, he would make campaign finance reform a top priority.

"Americans no longer have confidence in a government ruled by special interests," he said Sunday. McCain is a co-sponsor of senate legislation that would outlaw so-called soft money contributions and impose other restrictions on political fundraising.

Although he is one of a dozen Republicans seeking his party's nomination, McCain's stand on campaign finance sets him apart from the rest of the G.O.P. field. Most Republicans, including the frontrunner, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, oppose McCain's campaign finance proposal (News Analysis, page 6).

Opinion polls show McCain trailing far behindBush among Republican voters. In a recentReuters/Zogby poll, McCain finished third with 9percent of the Republican vote, after Bush andrunner-up Elizabeth H. Dole.

But McCain, the self-described maverick in theRepublican field, was well-received in NewHampshire, a state which is notorious for buckingconventional wisdom at the polls.

At a rally Wednesday, 300 enthusiasticsupporters packed into the town hall in Bedford tohear him declare a "war on cynicism."

And on the campaign trail, many voters saidthey were impressed by McCain's candor.

"He's the one member of Congress I actuallyrespect," said one independent voter, Eric N. Wittof Littleton, who heard McCain speak in Franconia."He's the only one I'd invite to dinner at myhome."

At campaign stops across northern New Hampshireon Sunday, McCain also outlined the other goals hesaid would guide him as president, calling forschool voucher programs and strong nationaldefense.

"Why are [American] colleges and graduateschools the best in the world? Because theycompete with one another," he said in an interviewwith The Crimson. McCain called for a schoolvoucher system to encourage schools to competewith one another for students. He said such aprogram would improve the quality of education.

And, echoing nearly every other presidentialcandidate, McCain promised to undo the damage hesaid was done to the prestige of the presidencyduring the Clinton administration.

"There are times you will disagree with me," hetold a Sunday morning meeting of the NorthernGrafton County Republican Committee in Franconia,N.H., "But I promise I will always act out ofprinciple, and I will never embarrass you."

McCain's status as a war hero--a label herejects but which his staff seems eager to exploitin campaign literature--doesn't hurt his chanceseither. McCain's campaign mailed 50,000 copies ofa biographical video to New Hampshire voters, mostof it devoted to his military career.

Another part of his history, though, may provea political liability. McCain was one of theKeating Five, a group of Senators implicated in ascandal in 1987 after they allegedly exertedinfluence on federal regulators on the behalf offinancier Charles Keating.

A member of the audience at aquestion-and-answer session in Franconia askedMcCain point-blank about his involvement in thescandal, and McCain admitted wrongdoing.

"I did the wrong thing," he answered. "I wasguilty of bad judgment."

This weekend, McCain was the first candidatefrom either party to venture "north of theNotch"--into the sparsely populated, heavilyRepublican region north of Franconia Notch, thesame part of the state that propelled Patrick J.Buchanan to his surprise victory in the 1996G.O.P. primary.

McCain crisscrossed the northern region of thestate, bounded to the south by the White Mountainsand to the north by Canada