Senator John McCain has been in a serious free fall for several weeks now. It started with his backing of the immigration bill and today continued with the Supreme Court taking their collective whacks at the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill.
Things are so bad that the former front runner is now looking at a total collapse of his campaign:
THE former presidential front-runner, John McCain, may drop out of the 2008 race by September if his fundraising dries up and his poll ratings continue to drop, according to Republican insiders.
The speculation, vigorously denied by McCain's camp, is sweeping Republican circles after a disastrous few weeks in which the principled Arizona senator has clashed with the party's conservative base on immigration and also alienated independent voters by backing President George W Bush's troop surge in Iraq.
It would have been hard to imagine McCain losing this much (only 8%?) support in so short a time. Only three or four months ago, he and Giuliani were battling it out and McCain had a good shot at the nomination. A double whammy of conservative backlash over illegal immigration and the meteoric rise of Fred Thompson has all but destroyed any chance the Senator from Arizona had.
The sad thing is that McCain is a good guy, he just failed miserably when it came to reading the ire of the conservative base on the immigration issue.
Update (2148): McCain says those who think he's dropping out are "smoking something":
The amazing thing to me is that McCain failed to see the political downside of the immigration issue. He is from Arizona and thus needs the Hispanic vote to win, but why did he not remain somewhat neutral until he saw the way the wave was breaking? He did not have to join the man the right loves to hate--Senator Kennedy--in pushing for this bill. He could have allowed the President to do battle and than came out against it. He would have resumed the title "maverick" that the adoring media bestowed upon him and he would have blunted alot of criticism and kept alot of supporters. Alas for him, he didn't.
Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 1)
1. Good riddance to bad rubbish. Maybe McCain should run for president of Mexico.
Paul the American at 6:02PM on Jun 25th 2007
2. McCain does seem to have what the people that have been buying the politicians we are allowed to vote for have, an incomprehensible drive to bring about the end of this once great nation. Hopefully it does no good this time around.
The US has dropped 300 pounds of bombs for every man, woman, and child in Indochina, and 22 tons of bombs for every square mile in McCain's heyday.
That is incomprehensible but little compared to the devastation of the loads of what he is dropping now on this once great nation.
Carson at 7:45PM on Jun 25th 2007
3. McCain/Fiengold
McCain/Kennedy
They sound like political tickets, but were really the downfall of this once relevant man.
His downfall came due to his defeat by Bush in 2000. He began to fracture to REPUBLICAN party out of sheer spite, beginning to show up on every sunday so-called news show, where he did his weekly critque of BUSH, leaving the impression that he would punish the REPUBLICAN party for their rejection of his bid for the nomination.
This man has a fatal flaw. This Immigration fiasco is only a symptom of the underlying problem. Despite his rhetoric, he has little concern for the well being of the Constitution or the citizens of this once great nation. I also think that a run for the President of Mexico would be a safe bet. He's toast, nobody will send money to someone who devises a way to destroy the nation, and call opponents to that idea and who supported him throughout his career bigots and idiots. With credentials like that he could be a DEMOCRAT... then again he almost joined KERRY in '04. Not very loyal to his party I would say>
joem at 11:04PM on Jun 25th 2007
4. I wouldn't vote for McCain for dogcatcher. He proved how worthless he is by pushing for open borders and amnesty for the illegal mexicans. He's nothing but a traitor. They must have performed a lobotomy on him when he was in that POW camp in Vietnam.
Robert at 1:02AM on Jun 26th 2007
5. McCain is a "good guy?" NO way. He was tragic from the beginning.
Just "misjudged American ire" is not good enough, because it means that:
(1) We are actually WRONG in our "ire" against the SPP and amnesty deals and
(2) (Mc)Cain is actually going to BACK DOWN from his efforts to take out America once he realizes our feelings.
What if we supported an American for President? Imagine a leader who would stand his ground for freedom and individual rights.
Imagine RON PAUL. Ron is one candidate who will never support attacks on our sovereignty or heritage!
http://www.RonPaul2008.com
RJM at 1:07PM on Jun 26th 2007
6. Objective voters recognize McCain for integrity and leadership, whether or not they agree on the immigration issues.
I am conducting some research, trying to learn what the supporters for each candidate think is their single best issue. I am doing this for all candidates, but especially the top contenders.
Thanks to all interested in helping.
Jeff
Jeff at 9:47AM on Jun 28th 2007