McCain and 2008

For all of my good friends who thirst for a John McCain Presidency, this looks like good news...

In an early February poll, New Hampshire voters showed a clear early preference for Sens. Hillary Clinton and John McCain in the 2008 presidential primary.

According to American Research Group, which surveyed 600 likely voters in each party’s primary, 32 percent of the state’s Democrats favored Clinton, with 9 percent backing former vice presidential nominee John Edwards.

Nine other candidates received some support. Gen. Wesley Clark and Sen. John Kerry were at 7 percent and Al Gore at 5 percent. Evan Bayh, Joe Biden, Russ Feingold, Bill Richardson and Mark Warner were all at 2 percent or less. Just under a third of the voters said they were undecided.

McCain easily outdistanced other potential GOP candidates, with 41%. No one else reached double digits, with Mitt Romney at 9 percent, Newt Gingrich at 8 percent, George Pataki 5 percent and Bill Frist 3 percent. No other names topped 1 percent.

(hat tip: Ankle Biting Pundits) One key note is that McCain should be in the lead in New Hampshire, which gave him a boost in 2000 as well, due to the fact that he's easily the best known candidate in the GOP field. And the fact that Mitt Romney is running in second comes primarily from the fact that he's from next door Massachusetts.

But McCain is clearly courting GOP support from the Bush base, as the Washington Post notes here. The question is whether the conservative base within the GOP will support him the primaries.

Some will, partly because McCain's steady support of the war and Bush's judicial nominees has given him new currency with conservatives, which is bolstered by his consistent and continued willingness to attack Congressional pork. The fact that's he's reaching out to key conservatives, including the Religious Right, makes one wonder if some of the cachet McCain has as an "independent" moderate -- the politician who doesn't act like other politician -- will suddenly disappear.

In fact, I'm also curious to see how the press ends up covering McCain in 2008 if he becomes the nominee. In the past, the press has fawned over McCain as an alternative to Bush. I wonder if this will still be true if he's running against Hillary, or if we'll suddenly see mainstream media stories that attack McCain. Too soon to tell.