The Inevitability of McCain

Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain (R-AZ) addresses supporters at his Florida primary election night rally in Miami, January 29, 2008. (Carlos Barria/Reuters)

John McCain is on a roll.

I have no doubt that he believes he will be the Republican nominee.

He's confident, so confident that he's already working on uniting the party, showering Rudy Giuliani with praise and preparing to accept his endorsement.

MIAMI -- Senator John McCain defeated Mitt Romney on Tuesday to win the delegate-rich Florida primary, solidifying his transformation to the Republican front-runner and dealing a devastating blow to the presidential hopes of Rudolph W. Giuliani.

Republican officials said after Mr. Giuliani’s distant third-place finish that he was likely to endorse Mr. McCain, possibly as early as Wednesday in California. They said the two candidates’ staffs were discussing the logistics of an endorsement.

The results were a decisive turning point in the Republican race, effectively winnowing the field to Mr. McCain and Mr. Romney, two candidates with very different backgrounds who have little affection for one another but share a similar challenge in winning over elements of the party suspicious of their ideological credentials.

...Mr. McCain’s victory showed he could win among Republican voters. Florida allows only registered Republicans to vote in its primary, unlike New Hampshire and South Carolina, where Mr. McCain’s victories earlier this month were fueled by independent voters.

With 99 percent of the precincts reporting, Mr. McCain had 36 percent of the vote, Mr. Romney 31 percent, Mr. Giuliani 15 percent and Mike Huckabee 14 percent.

“Our victory might not have reached landslide proportions,” Mr. McCain said, “but it is sweet nonetheless.”

After a campaign in which he was often on the attack, Mr. McCain went on to praise his rivals, especially Mr. Giuliani, who he said had “invested his heart and soul in this primary, and who conducted himself with all the qualities of the exceptional American leader he truly is.”

Mr. Romney made clear that he would go all-out in the coming week, as the presidential race builds toward its biggest day so far, a set of more than 20 contests across the country on Tuesday. He and Mr. McCain fought an increasingly bitter battle in Florida, and they now seem likely to take their messages to the national stage, with Mr. Romney trying to portray Mr. McCain as out of step with his party on critical issues and ill-equipped to deal with the economic downturn and with Mr. McCain suggesting that Mr. Romney’s principles yield too easily to the political winds and that he cannot be trusted on national security.

...Mr. Giuliani, speaking in Orlando, thanked his supporters and talked about his campaign in the past tense but did not drop out of the race. “The responsibility of leadership doesn’t end with a single campaign,” he said in a serious, gracious speech that he leavened with a humorous asides. “If you believe in a cause, it goes on and you continue to fight for it, and we will. I’m proud that we chose to stay positive and to run a campaign of ideas.”

It's over for Rudy.

He's dropping out and supporting McCain. I guess Rudy owes McCain one after he endorsed George W. Bush in 2000.

...Mr. McCain, who ran a more negative campaign than usual against Mr. Romney in the last few days, praised Mr. Romney and his supporters in his victory speech, saying, “The margin that separated us tonight surely isn’t big enough for me to brag about or for you to despair.”

McCain didn't just run a more negative campaign against Romney. He ran a dishonest campaign. That should bother voters.

Clearly, McCain is trying to make nice now. I'm having a little trouble handling his mood swings. I don't know what to expect from him. Will it be the growling, angry, spiteful McCain, or the smiling, "My friends" McCain?

I'm not ready to declare McCain the nominee. It appears to be inevitable. I'm just not ready.

Millions will be voting next Tuesday, and as McCain himself said, the margin of his victory in Florida wasn't that large. Still, it's impossible to deny the likelihood of McCain amassing an insurmountable number of delegates when the results are in next Tuesday.

McCain isn't a lock yet, as anything can happen. But realistically, McCain is looking inevitable.

That scenario is difficult to accept.

Michael Graham is having problems with it, too.

He writes:

Assuming there is no shocking revelation or health issue, the GOP nomination is over. Conservatives need to start practicing the phrase "Nominee presumptive John McCa....."

Sorry, I can't say it. Not yet.

But it's true. When the campaign comes here to Massachusetts on February 5th, I'll proudly cast my vote for any option on the GOP ballot other than You-Know-Who. But it will be a futile gesture. Mr. "1/3rd Of The GOP Primary Vote" is going to be the nominee.

He's going to win the big, left-leaning states on Tuesday. Huckabee will stay in and deny Romney a one-on-one contest for GOP voters that Captain Amnesty would almost certainly lose. The result: More wins for He Who Must Not Be Named, and fewer wins for Romney—regardless of delegate count.

Florida has launched the one ship that Romney's money and Rush Limbaugh cannot stop: The U.S.S. Inevitable. It's gonna happen. Even if there were a realistic pathway to stop him, the media have seized control of the process now and are declaring him inevitable. He is, after all, the favorite son of the New York Times.

So it is over. Finished. In November, we'll be sending out our most liberal, least trustworthy candidate vs. to take on Hillary Clinton—perhaps not more liberal than Barack Obama, but certainly far less trustworthy.

And the worst part for the Right is that McCain will have won the nomination while ignoring, insulting and, as of this weekend, shamelessly lying about conservatives and conservatism.

In spite of all his faults and my reservations about him, come November, I'll vote McCain.

He's better than Hillary. I'll say that much for him.