Starting Gate: McCain's Mission, One And Done?
But that's where John McCain finds himself and, if he can win the Florida primary six days from now, it may well turn those predictions into a reality.
It won't be easy by any measure. Polls indicate that Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee have as good a chance of winning as McCain. The Arizona senator continues to be a juicy target for many conservatives (some with large megaphones) for policy apostasy's on issues like immigration, campaign finance reform and taxes. But if the GOP field has a front-runner, it's McCain. A win in Florida may make him the nominee.
Rudy Giuliani has put his entire campaign on the line in the state. Bypassing such trivial contests as Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, Giuliani says Florida is what counts. Anything less than a first-place showing should count him out.
Mike Huckabee has turned his Iowa win into a free-media opportunity but after losing South Carolina, he looks to be returning to his shoestring campaign and pursuing something of a Southern strategy going into Super Tuesday. But even wins in his home state of Arkansas, Georgia, Alabama and/or Tennessee won't offset losses in California, New York and New Jersey.
Mitt Romney appears stuck in between two tracks. On the one hand, he would probably like to make this a two-person race with McCain, where he could rally the anti-McCain forces and hope to repeat their Michigan fight. On the other hand, Romney's better chance to win the nomination might be a fractured field where he continues to split and pile up delegates.
Of all the campaigns, Romney has the resources needed for a prolonged battle (although McCain's fund-raising has reportedly picked up since his New Hampshire victory). But how much more of his personal fortune is Romney willing to spend in pursuit of a nomination that would appear to be McCain's to lose should the senator win Florida?
There are over 1,000 Republican delegates at stake on Super Tuesday. To win the nomination, 1,191 are required. With just a week in-between contests, the winner in Florida will have a big advantage going into that mega-contest, especially if that victor is the candidate already seen as the front-runner.
Mission Accomplished? Hillary Clinton may have received a loud round of boos and catcalls when she brought up the name of shady Chicago developer Tony Rezko in Monday night's debate but she accomplished something in the process – a sudden re-examination of Barack Obama's ties to the man she called a "slum landlord."
Rezko's name, story and relationship with Obama was part of many early stories about Obama's campaign, particularly in the Chicago media, but has largely disappeared over the last ten months. He may now be in for a larger round of national attention.
Here's how the Chicago Tribune revisits the story today: "For years after Rezko befriended Obama in the early 1990s, he helped bankroll the politician's campaigns. Then, after Obama's election to the U.S. Senate, Rezko engaged him in private financial deals to improve their adjoining South Side properties. Those arrangements became a source of lingering controversy after the Tribune first reported them in November 2006."
The Los Angeles Times leads its story with this: "Hillary Rodham Clinton dropped the name of Barack Obama's Chicago patron into the South Carolina debate Monday night, putting front and center a tangled relationship that has the potential to undermine Obama's image as a candidate whose ethical standards are distinctly higher than those of his main opponent."
And the Associated Press carries this characterization: "The Democratic presidential hopeful has also been forced to explain how Rezko got tangled in the purchase of the Obama family home and other ties to Rezko — some of them going back more than 15 years. If federal prosecutors are right, his ties to Rezko may even mean Obama's campaign unwittingly accepted money generated by illegal activities. Obama, who has a spotless reputation after 11 years in public offices, has been accused of no wrongdoing involving Rezko or anyone else. Nevertheless, the former state legislator and first-term U.S. senator seemingly missed plentiful warning signs that Rezko was headed for trouble with the law." Mission accomplished?
Who's Swift-Boating Who? John Kerry isn't saying exactly who's doing it, but the Obama-backer told supporters yesterday that someone is "swift-boating" his candidate. In an e-mail, Kerry writes: "The truth matters, but how you fight the lies matters even more. We must be determined never again to lose any election to a lie. This year, the attacks are already starting. Some of you may have heard about the disgusting lies about Barack Obama that are being circulated by email. These attacks smear Barack's Christian faith and deep patriotism, and they distort his record of more than two decades of public service. They are nothing short of "Swiftboat" style anonymous attacks."
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