COMPARED TO 2000, MCCAIN'S 2008 NH WIN SUCKED BIGTIME

In 2000, when the nation was at NOT AT WAR and the world- freed from the decades long Cold War - SEEMED at peace, McCain carried every single segment of the GOP voters: by age, conservativeness/liberalness; income level; party registration - EVERYTHING.

McCain got almost 50% of the vote and beat Bush by nearly 20%.

THEY LOVED MCCAIN IN NH.

This time around they love him a lot less.

This time he got less votes and beat Mitt by a scant 5%.

AT A TIME OF WAR.

At a time of war McCain - WAR HERO, and hawk with decades of national/international and defense/national security experience - much more than any of his rivals - did worse than in 2000.

McCain is less popular in NH in 2008 than in 2000.

Less popular with conservatives.

At a time of war.

That's why I say - by comparison - his 2008 performance SUCKED BIGTIME.

He should have done better this year than in 2000.

SO WHY DIDN'T HE? He didn't because he is not a conservative.

And he is not good on a broad spectrum of GOP issues: taxes, immigration, and campaign finance reform are just the biggest.

I think the GOP can win with McCain. But he's not conservative enough for me - or MOST REPUBLICANS.

I hope that soon conservatives can rally behind one alternative.

But maybe we need a few place holders between now and the convention.

Maybe we need a few conservatives to do well regionally between now and the convention and maybe we rally around one conservative at the convention.

That's what Mitt and Fred and Hunter should do: they should commit to stay in and win as many delegates as they can in order to be as strong as possible at the convention.

That way, this time - in 2008 - the primaries might not confer inevitability on anyone.