I, and others, had John McCain politically dead not so long ago. It seems that those rumors were premature.

McCain's campaign suffered greatly in the summer by his steadfastness on the "shamnesty" bill. He worked in concert with President Bush, Teddy Kennedy and others to push the bill through that was hated by conservatives and was not accepted by centrists who were wary of the language and intent. Talk radio and the right-wing blogosphere upbraided McCain on a daily basis and his poll numbers dropped quickly. He's taken quite a beating at this site as well.

Here we are with the summer over and the real campaign about to begin and the feeling is that McCain is building up some momentum. His performance during the last debate showed him as a funny guy but also serious when it comes to the war in Iraq and the greater War on Terror. In other words, it was the relaxed, loose John McCain, not the McCain who seems stiff and uncomfortable much of the time. It seems as though he enjoys being in the pack rather than the lead. During the 2000 run, he was looser and ran a decent campaign with the exception of his irritating habit of sticking to his talking points instead of ad libbing.

David Broder writes of the resurgent McCain here and notes that he has taken the tack of border enforcement first and then dealing with immigration problem.

Looking at the polls, McCain has reversed the downward trend it appears placing third behind Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson but ahead of Mitt Romney, he hasn't seen third place in a month, which is an eternity in campaign terms.

Is McCain officially back? It's too early to say as he still has the burden of the immigration debacle to live down and gaining traction on Giuliani and the newest candidate, Thompson, will be difficult. Yet, McCain does have a certain appeal to many on the right and if he can win in New Hampshire and Iowa, all bets are off.