McCain Falls to Third in LAT Poll
by Ryan Sager
Thu, 12 Apr 2007 at 6:47 PM
updated Thu, 12 Apr 2007 at 6:48 PM
Here's a lead paragraph that's no good for the McCain camp:
Sen. John McCain, once considered the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, has fallen to third place in a new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll, and is running behind Fred Thompson, an actor and former senator who has not even entered the race.
Yikes. I haven't necessarily been buying into the "McCain's Goose Is Cooked" storyline. I think he has good fundamentals as a candidate, which make him a contender over the long haul. At the same time, it is amazing how far he's fallen recently in the polls. And his current attempt at rehabilitation doesn't seem very promising to me.
The LA Times/Bloomberg poll has:
Giuliani: 29%
Thompson: 15%
McCain: 12%
Romney 8%
To be behind a guy who hasn't even announced — when you were supposed to be the prohibitive frontrunner — is really astounding.
This month's McCain relaunch, meanwhile, looks pretty lackluster. It kicked off yesterday with his supposedly "big" speech on Iraq. But just because a candidate tries to bill a speech as big doesn't mean it is — especially when all you're really doing is reiterating a position you've held on an issue for ... well, ever. (Give Mr. McCain points for consistency, for sure.)
Mr. McCain's relaunch continues this month with speeches on economic policy and domestic policy. I'm actually quite interested to hear what he has to say on those topics. So far, Mr. McCain's legislative record of accomplishment — if you can call it that — is pretty much limited to campaign-finance reform. And that's a pretty regrettable record.
I've never actually gotten the sense that Mr. McCain gives a fig about economic or domestic policy otherwise. He's the "win the war" candidate. That speech having landed with a resounding thud, I can't imagine these next two getting the blood pumping in an increasingly lifeless campaign.
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