Poor John McCain!

July 2007.
Plogged (PresidentialBlog @ WHO TV, Des Moines, Iowa

Poor John McCain.

He’s been “overtaken by history”.

What I mean is that he WAS (past tense) the maverick, independent thinking, straight shooting war hero. He had principles and stuck with them and people admired him for saying what he thought was right and they liked it.

The problem is that he is still doing the same thing only now he is sticking with his guns on things that the public generally does not approve of or care about.

McCain-Feingold the campaign finance bill does not get him an ounce of credit. For two reasons.

First, it does not work. Second, the Supreme Court rules parts of it are unconstitutional. Ok, three reasons! The Republicans do not like this bill. So his score on that one is pretty much zero.

Then he jumped on board the derailed Immigration Reform Bill.

Well, need we say more?

The bill was an unenforceable mishmash compromise. (Often a compromise is like an animal designed by a committee!). Moreover, the Republican base hated it. But I repeat myself.

Then there is McCain’s support of the Bush surge in Iraq. Actually, McCain wanted a much bigger surge (probably the correct approach militarily but not politically in 2007). The COUNTRY hates it!

So, contributors have been keeping their hands buried in their pockets and the campaign piggy bank is running dry. Of course, he still has 2 million bucks which in my book is a LOT of money but in 2008 we will have a one BILLION dollar presidential race.

So, with Barak Obama raising over $30 million in the second quarter, Romeny in the money, Senator McCain appears to be headed for then political poor house and has fired a large percentage of his staff.

Some people say there is too much money in politics but I say that his overspending on campaign expenses and staff shows he is not a very smart money manager. I mean, would he spend tax money that way?

Also, I know for a fact that money contributions are a valid and important measure of confidence in a candidate.

The several Presidential “stock markets” (including a very good one at the U of Iowa) have been very active predictors of political success.

So, poor McCain lost his shine. He’s lost GOP support. He’s lost the stream of funding.

Very few donors (large or small) want to put their dollar on a guy who has downsized his campaign drastically and who appears to be headed for an early pull-out.

I will not use the word “loser” because McCain is a gentleman and a patriot. I will say that political supporters may not be seeing him anymore as a potential winner and therefore they will invest elsewhere.

Politics is an ever changing and cruel process. You have to always look forward over the horizon or you’ll be run over as he appears to have been.

Poor John McCain. Campaign finace reform only worked for him. He's getting less money to run.