Usually, operating behind enemy lines is a sign of strength. John McCain sure hopes so.
"I believe we have every good shot at carrying the state of Massachusetts tomorrow and winning this state and sweeping the East," the Arizona senator said Monday as he campaigned in Mitt Romney's backyard – at a rally at Boston's historic Faneuil Hall.

McCain sees a big Super Tuesday in the offing. But even some allies are a little nervous at a schedule that had McCain spending most of his day in three moderate GOP states: Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York. McCain has a big lead in the latter two, and even his own top aides concede Massachusetts is a long shot.

So why not more in the South. Or in the Mountain West.

We put the question to McCain in Boston: "Senator, where is the line between confident and cocky?"

McCain noted that he had campaigned in Missouri the other day, as well as Alabama and some other Super Tuesday battlegrounds. But the did note his superstitions, and did repeated his assertion from last week that he believed he would all but mathematically clinch the nomination Tuesday night.

"You hop around the country. You try to get to as many places as you can," McCain said. "But I am trying to be very careful about ...I've seen more than one election go against what the polls show before. And we are guardedly confident we think we can win but that is why we are campaigning hard right up literally until the polls close."

Up to the end includes a hastily scheduled final day trip to California, where Romney also was adding last-minute stops to court voters in Tuesday's most delegate-rich state.