The base of GOP really does not like McCain

Ryan Sager:

THEY don't like him. They re ally don't like him. But he's going to be their nominee.

John McCain has won yet another primary without carrying either self-identified conservatives or Republicans - at least according to the Florida exit polls, which show McCain losing self-identified Republicans by 31 percent to 33 percent for Mitt Romney. More, Romney scored a stunning 37 percent of self-described conservatives to McCain's 27 percent.

But a win is a win - and there's little that can stop the Straight Talk Express now.

McCain had been written off by the pundits (including me, many times, usually quite gleefully), but the media remains his base, his campaign treasure chest and his get-out-the-vote operation all wrapped up into one. His narrow victory will ring through the land as a landslide.

And, truth be told, while it's underwhelming, it's enough. It's long been clear the winner of Florida would almost certainly go on to win the whole thing - and now McCain has, and he most likely will.

With Mike Huckabee staying in the race to split the conservative (and especially the southern Evangelical) vote, it's hard to see where Romney could put together any significant number of primary victories on Feb. 5.

(Huckabee will be playing nationally the role that Fred Thompson played for McCain locally down in South Carolina. Earlier this month, Thompson helped fend off a Huckabee victory in the Palmetto State by splitting conservatives. Which one has done more to earn McCain's VP nod? A debate for the dinner table. . . )

In his victory speech last night, McCain went out of his way to say that he's long been proud to call himself a "Republican conservative." Given his longtime habit of feuding, that's a tough one to swallow. That said, conservatives - however upset they may be today - might well come to appreciate in coming weeks that they have nominated a strong candidate for November.

First off, how often does the GOP get to nominate a candidate loved by The New York Times editorial board (and every other mainstream media outlet in the country)? They love his POW story. They love his "maverick" persona.

And, above all, they love his contempt for his fellow Republicans.

...

McCain has a chance of defeating the Democrats for several reasons. He is already leading them in some head to head polls. Obama will lose the Hispanic vote to McCain. Hillary Clinton will energize the Republican base despite their animosity for McCain. Those of us who want to win the war will hold our nose and vote for him. He will have to generate his enthusiasm from his media base instead of conservatives.