I think that Dan Riehl is right: match-up polls are nothing but an exercise in name-recognition right now, which is why John McCain is doing well in them. But, when push comes to shove, he’s quite simply too old, not inspiring enough, and he won’t be able to get the conservative base moving. No, if I were a Republican I would be hoping for a Romney/Thompson ticket.
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McCain has blemishes, to be sure. I agree with Riehl to this extent- name recognition and "time in grade" are huge assets. However, if nominated, McCain will be the first major party candidate in my memory who isn’t a regimented ideologically thinker. As far back as I can remember, party nominees fall (or would fall) near a perfect 0 or 100 on the American Conservative Union ratings scale. Dole was around a 96. Kerry has an ACU score of 2.5 lifetime! Hillary Clinton is at 9; Barack is a lifetime 2. In contrast, McCain rates a relatively moderate 82 lifetime (18 points below a "perfect" conservative 100), and he’s had years where his rating was in the 70s.
Relatively speaking, he is a maverick, a free thinker. That bodes well for the country- which is not as ideological as either party.
In 2004, McCain’s ACU rating was 72.
Oh come now. George Bush wasn’t a member of congress so I don’t think the ACU would’ve rated him. But my point is this: Neither he nor his father were ever exactly on the far right.