McCain's Victories Outshine Rumors

One good way for McCain to get over the humiliation of being in accused of having an affair would be to launch a massive public relations campaign to dispel the thought that he may be incapable of leading the country. Of course, that was taken care of within minutes of the rumor's release. Another way to distract the public from the unfortunate rumor? Win every primary election that was held after the rumor hit headlines.

That's exactly what McCain has done since his downfall resulting from the rumor declaring that he had had an affair with female lobbyist Vicki Iseman. The media seems to be distracted from McCain's personal life and turned their attention to the heated race between Obama and Clinton. Obama will be unable to win the Democratic election without the support of the superdelegates and Clinton will be unable to secure the nomination by winning additional primaries. The Democratic candidates are engaged in a stalemate and the nation is watching.

This means that, for now, eyes are off of McCain and his rumored affair. On March 4, Texas, Rhode Island, Ohio and Vermont held their primary elections and McCain won all four of them. He has now surpassed the total number of delegates needed to win (he has 1,325 and the winner only needs 1,191) and has been declared the Republican Party's presumptive nominee. Huckabee is finally out of the race, bless his heart. That man sure can put up a fight, even if it was a weak one. Huckabee only won 267 votes during his primary run, and many people still wonder why he put in the effort at all. Ron Paul hilariously claims that he is still in the race but he has only been awarded 21 measly delegates.

Some people think Huckabee held out in hopes of running on McCain's ticket as the Vice President. This is a possibility, especially since the 71-year-old Arizona senator needs someone considerably younger who must be ready to work in case something should happen to McCain.

McCain has also switched gears to focus on combating the Democratic candidates. His whole campaign will have to change; instead of highlighting differences between himself and other Republican nominees, he'll have to stand out noticeably and appeal to Republicans and Democrats alike. In national polls, McCain is losing to both Obama and Clinton. McCain has the support of some crucial states, namely conservative states like Florida and Pennsylvania. His reputation as a middle-ground Republican candidate may help him in the general election but the nation's negative opinion of the current GOP administration surely doesn't help him any.

While trying to appeal to both parties, McCain will also have to remain loyal to the GOP. Many conservative Republicans insist that he must change his views on social issues. Conservative columnist Rick Santorum of the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote today (March 13) that McCain won't have support from strict conservatives unless he "demonstrates that his vaunted pragmatism and open-mindedness will lead him to different positions on some issues."

There's a lot of work to be done now that McCain is the presumptive winner and representative of the Republican Party. Is he up to the challenge? Stay tuned.