John McCain: From Front Running Maverick to Struggling Third Place

When John McCain said he was throwing his hat in the ring once again, many said this was his time. Many said he is the best hope for the republican party and for the country. With his foreign policy experience, his military experience and his ability to speak up and out for what he believes in, there was all sorts of praise for him when he began his 2008 Presidential campaign.

Then public outcry against the war in Iraq became louder and more intense. People were coming out on both sides of the aisle to say that we need to pull out of Iraq ASAP. They were saying that this administration, which has befriended Senator McCain, has done nothing but make a mess of things. As the complaining grew so did Senator McCain's position that those who were against this war are against this country. He tied himself and his success to this war and suddently people began wondering if they should tie themselves to him.

The first quarter reports show that he is in third place in fundraising behind Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani, shocking some and disappointing many others. Some of the pundits that heralded his entry into the race were starting to question whether the man has what it takes to lead this country out of the mess it's in. Some even said after the release of the numbers that it's quite possible he's "circling the drain".

To make matters worse, the "gaffe" heard around the world followed. People listened to him as he said that it was perfectly safe to walk through Baghdad and attempted to show this by walking through a local market. That he was accompanied by a hundred soldiers and two helicopters overhead, to the Senator's way of thinking, was just an example of the progress. "A year ago it wouldn't have been safe to even do that" He said in a 60 minutes interview and he calls this progress. Perhaps it escaped his thoughts that the local citizen doesn't have body armor and a personal security force to go pick up their groceries. In any event, people are now talking about the Senator, the so called "maverick", saying that maybe he can't do the job. They're starting to question his focus and purpose and they're now wondering if he's too old to do the job. Something you didn't hear much of when he first started.

The Senator has scheduled a few high profile campaign stops where he will give speeches that are supposedly geared to reinvigorating his struggling campaign and convince voters that we must see things through in Iraq. Thereby reaffirming his position that the war is not wrong nor is the bush administration and sealing his fate along with that of the administration. In one of those stops earlier today he said he would rather lose the campaign than lose the war.

If he's not careful, he will lose both.