Tuesday, October 23, 2007

The McCain 2nd Wind

How long before McCain regains front runner status? As Thompson and Giuliani fight for the beauty prize, McCain wallows in Romney land. But in head to heads against Sen. Clinton, he is the leader:
(McCain) loses to her by 3.3 points. Mr. Giuliani is very close — he would lose by 4 points, which is insignificant but enough for Mr. McCain to claim bragging rights. Mr. Romney would lose to Mrs. Clinton by 10.3 points. Fred Thompson would lose by 11.7 points.
The Right is going to have to make a choice pretty soon. Do they want to win, retain their edge on the security issue, and continue to keep the Left in check by controlling the White House. Or do they want to stick to some impossible ideological vision, thereby giving up on their chance to remain in the Oval Office. Mark McKinnon, a McCain strategist, thinks voters are just parked:
Republican voters are just temporarily “parked” and have not settled on a candidate. They left Mr. McCain after the immigration debate when they thought his candidacy was no longer viable, he said. They still like and respect him and as soon as they think he’s viable again _ “which they’re doing right now,” Mr. McKinnon said _ they’ll be back.
McCain was my preference until Gov. Richardson entered the race. I still cringe at the thought of a Hillary endorsement, and short of Gov. Bill being on the under card, I struggle with a scenario where I could support her. At this point a Giuliani or McCain endorsement would draw this left leaning moderate into their camp. But frankly, I don't think the Right wants to win. They have left such a mess, both fiscally and internationally, that they may prefer a Democratic Candidate to come in and fix it. Then they would have the best of both worlds, a balanced budget through the roll back of the Bush tax cuts for the rich, and the ability to flog the Dems by proclaiming to the American people "I told you so" for the next four years. Win-Win for them.

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