re: #600 TheMatrix31

McCain was the “middle”.

Obama was the FAR left.

I don’t disagree with your statement in theory, but in 2008 that idea FAILED.

It failed because of the candidates involved, not because of their positions. McCain actually did quite well, given the uphill battle he faced as the successor to an extremely unpopular President. If he possessed more charisma, and if he had managed his campaign more effectively, there’s a good chance he would have won.

Bringing more moderates under his wing wouldn’t have hurt, either. A lot of those in the middle (they’re what elections are all about; look at the Bell Curve sometime) would have voted for them if they hadn’t been so uncomfortable with the increasingly strident positions taken by the GOP on issues from abortion to gay rights to one of the most stomach-churning intrusions of government into private affairs I’ve ever witnessed - Tom Delay’s attempt to ramrod Old Time Baptist Fundamentalism down the throats of the Schiavo family. Had McCain made a clear statement rejecting such blatant excursions by the GOP into theocracy, I believe he could have carried the day.