The McCain Conundrum

Deborah Orin at the New York Post has an interesting article about the idea of John McCain running for president in 2008.

Now the idea of McCain running for president is an interesting proposition -- for Democrats and Republicans.

It boils down to three questions:

1) Does he want to run?

2) Can he get the Republican nomination?

3) Can he win a general election?

The answer to the first and third questions is an obvious "yes." Of course McCain wants to run -- would he have spent most of 2004 sucking up to George W. Bush (a man he has every reason to despise for the way he slimed him during the primaries in 2000) if he didn't want to run for president? And I don't think there's any doubt that McCain could most likely beat whomever the Democrats put up against him -- including Hillary Clinton.

But can he get the Republican nomination? That's the interesting question.

You're going to have people like Bill Frist, Rick Santorum and Sam Brownback running against him -- all far to the right of McCain. Now while Frist has made such a hash of his job as Majority Leader that he's pretty much discredited himself, Santorum and Brownback are the kind of True Believers that GOP primary voters love.

Are Republican primary voters willing to put their so-called "principles" to one side and vote for someone because they think he's their best chance of staying in power? Because if they vote on their core beliefs, there's no way McCain wins. He is to the GOP what Kerry was to the Democrats in 2004 -- the best chance at winning the election. Otherwise the Democrats would have gone with Dean last time.

As for my personal sentiments, I think the Democrats can beat anyone except McCain -- which is why I'm hoping that Republicans don't warm up to McCain and decide to vote on their principles in 2008.

Because if they vote on their principles in the primaries, then we win in the general election -- with or without Hillary on the ticket.

Tom Moran