This is the last weekend before the US presidential primaries kick into top gear. At the moment, Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Clinton are comfortably leading their respective fields. But a subway series is far from certain. Hillary might find that the electorate develop an acute case of Clinton fatigue if tawdry scandals begin to dominate the headlines once again. Or, the charismatic Barack Obama could catch fire. While on the Republican side, Giuliani is a particularly vulnerable frontrunner as Matthew Continetti points out in this Weekly Standard piece.
One of the things to watch this fall is if the onetime Republican frontrunner John McCain can fight his way back into the race. It is tempting to write off his chances. After all, he’s 71 and out of step with the party orthodoxy on various issues. But he still has a compelling biography—no other candidate in the field has displayed such heroism as McCain did in Vietnam—and his support for the surge in Iraq could be turning from a political negative into a plus with signs that General Petraeus will deliver a fairly upbeat report to Congress on Iraq later this month.
McCain is certainly not planning on going quietly. This new video released by his campaign demonstrates how he is hoping to get back into the race with a heavy emphasis on his biography. Interestingly, McCain here talks about his sons’ service in Iraq; something that up to now he has been reluctant to do. If McCain can get this message out he might make fools of all those who have written him off.
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