The Last Man Standing – Could It Be John McCain? And Watch Biden Run
A few months ago, in the depths of his campaign, I suggested that, in the end, Senator John McCain might be the last man standing in Campaign 08 for the Republicans. At that time, I was the subject of much laughter and ridicule. It is true, political forecasting is a form of fool’s gold.
But right now, much to even my surprise, the most courageous candidate in the Republican field is looking pretty good. McCain is within striking distance of Mitt Romney in New Hampshire, and surging in South Carolina.
This game, the primary game, has always been about the process of elimination. Michael Nutter roared to the top in Philadelphia after the other candidates all faltered in the middle of the campaign. Right now, Mike Huckabee is the apparent leader, but his baggage is heavy duty, including charges that he interfered with an Arkansas investigation of his son. Mitt Romney wanders the slippery slope of trying to please everyone, and Rudy Guiliani just seems to be fading somewhat.
So, who is left? Ron Paul. He could be a spoiler in close primaries. But he won’t win it.
McCain, quietly standing by his principles, may shoot to the front of the pack quickly as Republicans go into seek mode, hoping their dial will stop at a potential winner.
On the Democratic side, watch for a strong finish by Joe Biden in Iowa. The most experienced of all the Democratic candidates is a good bet to challenge John Edwards for third place in Iowa. Joe Biden is a great personal campaigner. Iowa is all about the one-on-one relationship between caucus member and candidate.
Watch Biden run.
Comments(11)
I haven’t seen McCain’s Christmas ad yet so I don’t know what his chances are. I do know ho-ever, if global warming is really occurring, all we have to do is run Hillary’s ad a few hundred times and the next thing you know we’ll be headed towards a new Ice Age. Brrrrrrrrrr
Obama, what does that guy know about Christmas? Didn’t he grow up in Hawaii?
Rudy’s ad fit him perfectly. I thought I was watching a SNL skit. He should skip the presidency and go directly into show biz. What can I say about Huckabee’s ad?I’m an atheist but I have already made plans to be baptised this Sunday.
As for Romney, I don’t think Mormons really celebrate Christmas. I mean if you can’t drink to excess, eat to excess, party to excess, or spend to excess why bother. Larry,from what I heard Biden just took his ad campaign dollars and purchased a 7-11.
Ed, you mean “However”. Sorry if i’m being a nitpicker.
Expect a late-charging good showing by Barry Nolan in the New Hampshire primary.
CN8 will be pleased!
Hello Larry,
both men(Mccain,Biden) are fine candidates and would be a lot better than what we have now,and would bring some honor and dignity to the WhiteHouse.
as far as mike huckleberry, your right he has a ton of baggage and would really benefit the democrats if he is the candidate(of course the dems would love to see him on the top of the ticket)he is weak and flip floppy,Chuck Norris seems to be a better option,overall the republicans seem to have a very weak field of candidates.
if we like it or not, Hillary Clinton looks to be unbeatable,and she would bring some leadership and honor back to the WhiteHouse and we all would agree on that.
Larry good luck and god bless
Here in Iowa I have been a Biden supporter for quite awhile, however I have no illusions that he will come in higher than 4th at best. I live only a mile from his headquarters but see no lawn signs for him anywhere in the area. I am fairly certain that when I arrive at the caucus site on 1/3/08 night, there will not be enough Biden supporters to make the 15% qualifying number, so I will have to switch to another candidate to make my vote count. I fully expect to wind up voting for Edwards, maybe Obama depending on which of them needs another voter most to get an additional delegate. Biden has campaigned hard, as has his family, but he gets little press attention (nor does anyone other than Obama and Hillary, sometimes Edwards) and has no money to match the deluge of commercials from Hillary and Obama. (However, I do have to qualify that 4 years ago I felt the same way about Edwards, expecting I would be the only one at a caucus full of Dean and Gephardt supporters. Turned out that in our precinct, both of them had crashed and burned because of their ads attacking each other, and Kerry and Edwards dominated. Could it happen again? There are many voters I know who are planning, like me, to use their vote in the most efficient way to have Hillary not come in at #1 or #2).
Haven’t seen hide nor hair of McCain for weeks, he’s focusing on New Hampshire Independents despite his Des Moines Register endorsement. He came over totally flat in his Repub voter get togethers, sometimes sounding a bit over the hill. At best he’s a distant third behind the Huckster and Mittsy (the Guy Smiley Look-Alike winner).
Tom Vilsack for VP!!!
Yeah, Hillary will bing back honor to the white house? Who’s going to be hiding under her desk, maybe Monica, Huh? Clinton and honor don’t go hand-in-hand, maybe if there wasn’t whitewater, monicagate and all the other idiots these two had on staff. And let’s not forget Sansy “The Burgler” Berger. She has not seen anything until the NRA and the 80 million gun owners start to weigh in on this anti-gun politician who claims to support the 2nd Amendment, we will never forget the ridiculous “AWB”. All I can say is JR is going to be really sad come Nov. 08.
Personally, I would like to see Mitt Romney – a proven leader that is not a product of Washington politics – I could live with a McCain/Leiberman ticket. For the Democrats, either Clinton or Obama are fine because they are UNELECTABLE by people with any brains!
I just wanted to take a moment out of my busy schedule at this time of year and thank all of the candidates for their recognition of the holiday season. I know you candidates have much bigger things to deal with. To spend your time and money to reflect on what this season really means brings a tear to my eye. If you only knew how hard it is today to determine who’s naughty and who’s nice. Anyway thanks for the sincere acknowledgement of the season without political references.
YOUR’S TRUELY
SANTA
PS Jesus says hello
Lieberman is the lowest scumbag in washington,i think nancy is mike in disquise,are you flip flopping again mike?
HRC is not unbeatable. She’s carrying a ton of baggage ( even excluding Mike’s rant.) From a practical political standpoint, she’s got a real mountain to climb.