It’s fun, and easy, to make fun of John McCain. But losing the Republican nomination is no laughing matter. Right now, with President Bush’s approval ratings at an all-time low, McCain gambled on being Shrub’s bosom buddy in hopes that might win him favor with party loyalists. It hasn’t. Now he’s losing the money game as well. Does this mean he’ll nix the election?
Not necessarily. As the above article points out, other presidential hopefuls have overcome a light purse in the past. But this is a different election year and there is more at stake.
For one thing, more than any other candidate, McCain has publicly positioned himself to be the most like Bush. He may not be, but he has wanted his party to think that he is. It is appears that Republicans are seeing through that sham. They may be more interested in being represented by Giuliani, Romney, or even Thompson.
Personally, I don’t see the conservative Christian base voting for Rudy and Romney’s Mormonism is certainly a stumbling block. None of the other candidates seem to have any credibility with other segments of the Republican base. So that leaves Thompson as a default. One might even say a wild card. But McCain? He seems to be old news and as long as he keeps sniffing George’s behind he’s going to get left behind, and the closer we get to September with no positive results from the Iraq War troop surge, the more McCain is going to look like silly puddy in a mud puddle.
