McCain on Leno

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I would have let this pass, except for the article in today's Wall Street Journal. The opening line is:

Where's John McCain's honor when we need it?

McGurn's article goes on to bring up some important questions. For example, will McCain express outrage over the information on Spunky which has emanated from his campaign? Will McCain acknowledge that the only huge bump his campaign had was after her introduction?

McGurn's contention is that McCain, if he is a man of honour, would actually take some responsibility for what happened in the campaign.

The article made me ask myself whether there was anything that McCain could have done to win the 2008 election. I think about this strictly from a strategic perspective: I worked long and hard for the Obama-Biden ticket, and believe that NO ONE could have won against the Obama campaign juggernaut.

In First Read this morning, they crunched some numbers. They indicated that not only did Obama WIN by outperforming Kerry, but McCain LOST by underperforming Bush. From the First Read e-mail:

-- Obama received approximately 34,000 fewer votes in Ohio than John Kerry. McCain received nearly 350,000 votes less than Bush in 2004.
-- In Florida, McCain received about 25,000 fewer votes than Bush in '04, but Obama found another 540,000 votes over the Kerry total.
-- In Wisconsin, McCain received 220,000 fewer votes than Bush, while Obama outperformed Kerry by about 180,000 votes.
-- In Virginia, McCain received 10,000 more total vote than Bush in 2004, but Obama found another 500,000 votes over the Kerry '04 performance.
-- In North Carolina, McCain outdid Bush by about 150,000 votes from 2004, but Obama bested the Kerry number by nearly 600,000.
-- In New Mexico, McCain received about 33,000 fewer votes than Bush, while Obama outdid Kerry by close to 100,000 votes.
-- A similar story in Nevada, where McCain received 7,000 fewer votes than Bush in 2004, while Obama surpassed the Kerry total by approx. 135,000 votes.
-- In Iowa, McCain came up about 74,000 votes short of the Bush total, while Obama soared passed Kerry's vote total by about 70,000 votes.
-- In Colorado, both McCain and Obama surpassed the '04 vote totals: McCain beat Bush by about 18,000 votes, while Obama topped Kerry by about 215,000 votes.

So, was there anything McCain could have done to LOSE LESS? I believe there was. First, he could have courted Mittens back in the spring when McCain became presumptive. He could have announced his veep choice way ahead of what is common, and the two of them could have barnstormed the country: McCain talking security, Mittens talking economy and health care.

Remember, while the great crash of September came as a surprise to many, the foreclosure crisis had been an open discussion topic for a long time. In addition, Mittens was Governor of Massachusetts when the health care plan was passed. Sure, it has its problems, but it works better than what came before, and, with modifications, could work on a larger scale.

The discussion would have been on issues, not Spunky. When Obama talked health care, Mittens could have talked health care. When the economy crashed and burned, Mittens would have had a measure of gravitas. Granted, his views are not our views, but compared to the economic brain trust headed by Phil Gramm, Mitt could have held sway. And to many of those stay-at-home Republicans, it might have been enough to get them to the polls. It would not have overcome the deficit caused by the Obama win, but it might have been less of a loss.