John McCain's second run for the presidency is kicking off on an odd note. An AP analysis says McCain's campaign faces "high hurdles."
This time a Republican heavyweight not an underdog, John McCain embarks on his second presidential run facing numerous challenges in courting a GOP establishment he once spurned at nearly every turn. ... Projecting an air of invincibility, McCain spent more than a year laying the foundation for another White House bid and ended 2006 as the front-runner for the GOP nomination. He added veterans of President Bush's campaigns to his own experienced staff, recruited proven fundraisers and collected early endorsements from senators and local elected officials alike.
But over the past few months, McCain has put most of his efforts into Iraq and shepherding Bush's unpopular troop increase through Congress. Meanwhile, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani made it clear he was running and enthusiasm for his candidacy grew while ex-Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts formally entered the race and set the pace in fundraising.
Recently, Giuliani's edge in national popularity polls has widened considerably over McCain, even among white evangelicals who make up a core of the GOP base.
And Canada's National Post asks, Has McCain lost his political mojo?. Writer Sheldon Alberts:
You're a big-shot Republican senator who supports President George W. Bush's troop surge in Iraq and are desperate to make nice with the America's religious right. Where do you go to officially launch your presidential campaign?
If you're John McCain - always trying to be hip, always trying to be a maverick - you announce your plans to talkshow host David Letterman, a left-leaning, Bush-bashing war opponent who is pretty much reviled by right-wing Republicans.
And McCain wonders why Americans are confused about him.
I kind of thought the same thing. McCain announces on Letterman? Why? Letterman's audience is not exactly the McCain base, is it? If it is, then, well, that explains why his poll numbers among Republicans are rather dismal right now for a guy who was the putative "front runner" not too long ago.
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