To me, it’s perfectly clear after yesterday’s primary: John McCain will be the Republican nominee. I don’t see how Romney can beat him on Super Tuesday, especially not considering the fact that McCain is polling very well in many big Super Tuesday states. It also has to be said that Romney outspent McCain 8-1. If you outspend someone by so much, you don’t deserve to win.

It’s interesting to see that McCain called himself a “conservative.” He’s not. He’s a moderate Republican. That’s not a problem - heck, policy-wise I for one am very close to him - but why lie about it? Or: is he trying to redefine “conservatism”?

Well, come to think about it, it is a problem.

As said, policy-wise I think that McCain is a pretty good nominee, normally. He has one major weakness, the economy. He has to make up for that by picking a running mate with knowledge about the economy. It seems that Rudy Giuliani will be his running mate. If true, Giuliani and McCain would own national security, and Giuliani would do well on the economy, but they have one major problem: neither are products of the conservative base.

Frankly, I don’t see the base voting in large numbers if the Republicans have a McCain / Giuliani ticket. Especially the socons may have a minor problem voting for such a ticket.