Republican and Conservative political analysis and commentary

Reporter Steven Stark at Boston's alt-weekly The Phoenix says John McCain's campaign is stumbling because McCain is a political anachronism.

The biggest story of the campaign so far has been the semi-collapse of John McCain. Long expected to be the GOP front-runner and probable nominee, he has, instead, found his campaign foundering in second place, trailing Rudy Giuliani by double digits. Fundraising isn’t going as well as planned, and even reporters are finding that the charming “Straight Talk Express” of eight years ago lacks allure this time around. Now there’s even talk that his old friend and supporter Fred Thompson may enter the race and challenge him. A lot of explanations have been offered for McCain’s stumbling start. For one, he is supporting an unpopular war (though, ironically, this should reinforce his reputation as a politician willing to call them as he sees them; plus, a fair number of Republicans still support the war). The party’s conservative base also doesn’t like him, for everything from his sponsorship of the McCain-Feingold campaign-finance reform legislation to his apparent friendship with John Kerry. It’s hard to run as an outsider when you’ve been the putative front-runner for so long. And at age 70, McCain can’t be the fresh face he once was.

McCain’s biggest problem, though, is that he is an anachronism. The movement he led in 2000 no longer has any followers.

It's a pretty good analysis. And the revelation earlier this week that McCain may have asked John Kerry to run as his vice presidential nominee certainly isn't going to help McCain with conservatives and Republicans.