McCain sold his soul for his place at the table.  His terrible performance has revealed that prostitution is not rewarded.

Not surprised.  I liked him in 2000, not today.  He is like a grouchy old man, and he is that.  He is so, yesterday.

wow what a collapse! I'm sure ARG still has him ahead though! good news for Obama in New Hampshire as you would thing McCain would still have some good will there after his 2000 performance, with him falling apart those voters will have to look somewhere else and Obama seems to fit the mood of those type of voters.

They raised $11.2 million in the second quarter, but spent $14.4 million, or $3.2 million, leaving just $2 million in cash on hand.

Yikes.  Spending 3 million more than you took in?  The ship isn't just taking on water...it's already most of the way under.

Should have said yes to Kerry, Senator fake Maverick.

Immigration pretty much killed him...It's kind of sad to see hm go down like this because i agree with his stance on this specific issue and like the fact that he was the only one to take the "pro-immigrant" stance among GOP hopefuls.

anti-Hispnics winds are just way too strong inside the GOP...You could easily run inside the democratic party by supporting amnesty/path to legalization for illegal immigrants, but not in the republican party...The republican party has a deep racist history, and today, it really murdered McCain.

The shittiest GOPer, or someone who won't damage the country as badly as Bush in the event the GOP wins? If we want someone in the GOP nominated who might be "less evil" who would that be?  

So when I read these stories that undercut one of the GOP frontrunners, what should my reaction be in terms of what's best for the country?

I think a lot of people are jumping the gun here in saying that McCain is finished based on the immigration bill alone. Besides his "maverick" stance on that bill, he seems to be pretty in line with the Bush Republican Party and the rest of their '08 field - he is pro-life, pro-death penalty, pro-troop surge/escalation. So I think it is not so much that he is too close to Bush (everyone else seems to be, too) but rather that he is too old and they want some new blood. This new blood thing will eventually hit Giuliani and I think Romney will be the nominee.

Only the Republican party could manage to make JOHN MCCAIN the most rational man on the stage during debates - he is loosing this campaign for being rational (not for his Iraq policy, but because he believes in evolution, immigration, and campaign finance reform), and that is sad.

That is 4% chance of winning the Repug nomination according the market. His stock is in the toilet.

For those those unfamiliar with intrade.com, it's a site where people can buy and sell futures contracts for political and other events. Smart money says McCain is done.

All right, so let's go one step beyond this and think the unrealistic:

Let's say, hypothetically, that McCain were to save himself the embarrassment of continuing and just plain drop out of the race.

How, if at all, would that change the dynamics of the Republican nomination race?

I'm not sure if he's done. By all indications, McCain can self-fund his campaign, but his overall prospects look pretty dim. The rest of the GOP field looks much more insane right now. Crazy bunch.

This is just that much better news for Fred Thompson.

Guiliani is ultimately going to get killed for being..well..Giuliani.

Mutt Romney isn't going to last.  Flip-flopping, dog-torturing, new englander, mormon that he is.

None of the others are gaining any traction.

The GOP seemed to be on its way to having a wide open primary.  Amazing how quick these things become cut and dry.

Fred Thompson's gonna be the nominee.

Edwards is staying.

Wow.  That leaves a big class of voters looking for new home -- the beltway pundits, lazy columnists, TVidiots -- literally dozens of voters now need a candidate.   Who will swoop in and win over this vital constituency?

McCain will not win the Republican nomination but he won't be dropping out anytime soon.  He will at least wait until he gets Federal Matching Funds.  He will be the only major candidate of either party who won't opt out.  The question is, what will he do with the millions of dollars he gets since he is unable to compete with his fellow Republicans when it comes to message and they will outspend him.  Maybe he will try to position himself as a kingmaker, although that is hard to do when your party is going to go down in flames.  Maybe he will jump ship and go to Unity08.

I don't think McCain is done. He's thought of as "being experienced and having the credentials for the job," which sounds a lot like Kerry. He seems like the type of person that would get more votes than the polls suggest.

Quote:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19209733

"Some 50 staffers or more are being let go, and senior aides will be subject to pay cuts as the Arizona senator bows to six months of subpar fundraising, according to officials with knowledge of the details of the shake up."

From CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/07/02/m ccain.campaign.ap/index.html

BS Express is coming to a halt?