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Cheer for McCain

James Forsyth

Monday, 10th March 2008

Opinion is divided over whether the ongoing Democratic primary contest helps or hurt John McCain. Some say that it writes him out of the news, making him look like an irrelevance. Others claim that by the end of it, the Democratic nominee will be so bloodied that they will have been seriously weakened for the general election campaign. Ryan Lizza’s excellent essay in The New Yorker suggests that the later is more likely. As Lizza writes,

“The newfound strength of Clinton’s war room is vital for her going forward. Her campaign realizes that if it is unable to overcome Obama’s lead in pledged delegates, there may be only one other path to victory: to make the case to superdelegates—and the Party establishment—that Obama could not defeat John McCain in the general election, and that, therefore, the will of the voters should not be binding.”

Not only does this mean that if Obama wins the nomination he will have had much of the shine knocked off him but also that if Hillary succeeds in this campaign she will have alienated many of Obama’s supporters. The whole process will also require Hillary to talk McCain up, emphasising his national security credentials and in the process turning him into a mor formidable general election candidate.

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Ian C

March 11th, 2008 6:50pm

There is going to be Democratic blood on the pavement between now and their Convention and I think I am right in sayingthat the norm is that the party taht takes longest to sort out twho their candidate is going to be will more likely lose, the exception being Kennedy. McCain has some time to gather his strength and prepare for his attack on whichever is selected. Can you make AMERICANO more accessible from Coffe House, please? We have to read a comment or a whole articel to find the link and that is tedious and time consuming.

James Forsyth

March 11th, 2008 9:29pm

Ian C, There's always a link to Americano on the left hand side of the page. James

Ian C

March 12th, 2008 1:23pm

Sorry James I can' see it. Are you sure? I have always found the Spectator website one of the more difficult to use and load etc. This appears to be another of those features.