John Hood makes an excellent point:

There is also a longer, truly heart-felt affection by center-left journalists for McCain, who mirrors their sentiments on the issue they (wrongly) believe is central to American politics: campaign-finance reform.

...in this matter Iowa is inconvenient for the McCain/Left argument. Huckabee had little money and won. Romney spent lots of money and came in second.

This is one of the biggest reasons that I do not want to see John McCain as president. Of course, it's also one of my many unhappinesses with George W. Bush, who signed a law that he stated himself he believed to be unconstitutional, thus betraying his oath of office.

There's no denying McCain has given conservatives fits over issues like campaign finance reform. But the only rational conservative alternatives are Romney and Thompson, and neither of them (Thompson in particular) seems capable of winning in November.

Moreover, on a less partisan and more civic-minded note, I see McCain as a candidate who has enough of the respect of people all across the political spectrum to actually lead the nation without necessarily being caricatured and crippled by bitter partisanship. (Obama could enjoy similar goodwill.) By contrast, I feel confident in saying that vast swaths of the American public would never accept Hillary, Edwards, Giuliani, or even Romney as their president.

To paraphrase the Stones, you don't always get what you want, but sometimes you get what you need.

I can live with a McCain Presidency, or Mitt for that matter but I just can't see getting all excited about voting for them.

Paul and Huckabee make me want to stay home.

The Press will turn on McCain and salvage him mercilessly if they thought for a moment he'll get the Republican nomination. The Press loves him so long as he serves their purposes but they're more in favor of a Democrat winning the presidency than of McCain.

In one sense, I'm a single issue voter. My issue is the Constitution. McCain and the Congress flagrantly violated the 1st Amendment with their campaign finance legislation (more accurately known as the Incumbent Protection Act). Bush's failure to veto that abomination is a severe mark against him. I simply can not and will not vote for McCain for that reason alone. I can respect his military service but that isn't nearly enough to overcome the damage he's done.

Larry, what actual damage has McCain-Feingold done? Clearly, it was unconstitutional in some respects, as the Supreme Court ruled last June. Personally, I think these kinds of "reform" are pointless and the "problem" of campaign finance is completely overblown. However, I fail to see any significant "damage" from it.

McCain-Feingold makes it illegal to criticize a political candidate within a certain timeframe before an election (30-90 days, I don't recall exactly). If that isn't a direct affront to the 1st Amendment, I don't know what is.

Simply put, if McCain is the Republican nominee, I will not vote for the top of the ticket. Like McCain, I also served in the military and took an oath to "preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution". Unlike him, I meant it. I can not and will not under any circumstances vote for him. PERIOD.

I am with you, Larry.

McCain's position on the war (my single issue) is acceptable, and normally that would be enough, but I will NEVER forgive him for his 'reform' obsession.

I can't decide who is being more annoying. Gore saying I shouldn't buy plain old electricity or McCain saying I shouldn't buy politicians.

Larry, what actual damage has McCain-Feingold done?

Damage to the US Constitution is actual damage.

CFR is only one of the many problems with McCain. His "Gang of 14" stunt actually cost us conservative judges, he's been very soft on tax cuts, and in general is just too quick to cave in to the left in the name of "bi-partisanship", always conceding more than he receives. The only thing he has been hawkish on is the war and even that is muted by his unwillingness to allow interrogators to what must be done to get info from terrorists. And as has been pointed out above, the press would turn on him in a NY minute if he every got the nomination. The only thing worse than a McCain nomination would be a Huckabee nomination, who is a GOP Jimmy Carter.

If the war were the only thing that mattered in this world, I'd rather have Lieberman than McCain.