Republican and Conservative political analysis and commentary

The John McCain campaign has to be pretty happy with the headline in today's edition of The State, a leading newspaper on South Carolina, site of one of the first crucial primaries in 2008.

Headline: Big money backs McCain in S.C.

The Hill's Hotline blog says there's more to the story than just raising cash:

By locking up virtually every major Bush '00/04 Palmetto state donor McCain's political operation has more in mind than simply depriving potential opponents of campaign cash.

McCain's advisers want to create an aura of inevitability around their candidate. ... A basic principle of psychology is at work: if you're a Republican skeptical of McCain and nearly every Republican you admire jumps into his juggernaut, you'll either surrender your doubts or, at the very least, be wary of publicly endorsing another candidate. You won't get a McCain aide to say this, but Team McCain wants Republicans who haven't endorsed McCain to fear the consequences of endorsing someone else.

But is McCain inevitable? Can lining up big donors innoculate him against his own vulnerabilities?

Kevin McCullough, in a perceptive commentary today at WorldNetDaily.com, thinks McCain is a surefire loser.

How does he expect to win the party's support for 2008? Complaints are many from those of us who might be inclined to support him. He sought to author the end of political free speech with his unconstitutional campaign finance reform efforts. He seems clueless when it comes to one of the issues that his base voters care about – the protection of marriage. And he seems to be forgetting that an energized base is what he will need to win the GOP primaries, much less the actual general election for president in the next go around.

In this month's Vanity Fair, John McCain seems to have further insulted those he seeks the support of. The 10-page tediously detailed profile delves into the senator's inconsistencies on the protection of marriage, his feelings on the war on terror and his near hostility toward protecting the border: "I think the fence is least effective. But I'll build the g-d--n fence if they want it."

In those 17 simple words, the "maverick" (which the media invented through him) has all but signed his political death wish. Republicans cannot trust McCain, and neither should the nation at large.

Need reasons why? His most signature work in the U.S. Senate sought to undue guaranteed protections for free speech – particularly in an election cycle where free speech is of most importance. In his own efforts to leverage power in Senate proceedings, he purposefully disrupted the will of his own majority party and further slowed down the needed debate on judges. In helping to orchestrate the gang of 14, he stymied clear consensus candidates to the courts as appointed by the president.

But in the Vanity Fair quote, he demonstrates something not seen before – direct hostility toward his own base of voters.

Sen. McCain seems to believe he can overcome his problems with the Republican base by lining up the big money, as if big money is the only reason George W. Bush won the nomination in 2000. But Bush had both - the big money and the support of the base.

It's way early in the process, but I'm going to make a prediction: While Sen. McCain locks up the big-money donors, someone - perhaps Mitt Romney - is going to raise big bucks from small contributors over the Internet the way Howard Dean did in the Democratic primaries in 2004. And, unlike Dean, they won't be a lit-fuse time bomb headed for a screaming meltdown, so the money will actually help them compete with McCain.