2nd chances in New Hampshire

NY Times:

Mike Huckabee’s defeat of Mitt Romney in the Iowa caucuses jolted a Republican Party establishment already distressed about the state of its presidential field.

But out of the turmoil may rise yet another opportunity for Senator John McCain of Arizona, whose candidacy all but collapsed last year.

If only by default, Mr. McCain is getting yet another look and appears to be in a strong position competing against a weakened Mr. Romney in the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday.

Mr. McCain is the latest beneficiary of the continuing upheaval in the Republican field that has seen nearly all of the candidates rising at various points. Among them were Mr. McCain, former Senator Fred D. Thompson of Tennessee and Rudolph W. Giuliani, a former mayor of New York.

Mr. Romney’s defeat in Iowa only underlined concerns that many Republicans had expressed about him, while the success of Mr. Huckabee, a former governor of Arkansas, gave rise to new worries among the Republican establishment.

“Among the intelligentsia of the party, there is definitely a deep concern about Huckabee getting the nomination because a lot of them think he can’t win,” said John Feehery, a former senior House Republican aide and party operative. “Part of it is self-interested panic since they have their own horses in the race, and none of them are riding Huckabee.”

Mr. McCain, then — after a year in which his campaign nearly collapsed, the Iraq war and a controversial immigration bill eroded his popularity, and he was forced to continue his candidacy on a bare-bones budget — may be in the right place at the right time.

...


The reason none of these guys are riding Huckabee is because they do not agree with his high tax, high spending policy. McCain is also a deeply flawed candidate for most Republicans. He is right on two big issues, the war and cutting pork. He was wrong on immigration, campaign finance reform, the gang of 14 judges deal, and voting against cutting taxes. Those are a lot of big issues where he worked against the Republican voters. All those issues where he was wrong made him popular with his media base, but at some point those issues are still going to hurt him in the primaries. It looks like he will survive in New Hampshire, but I think after that it gets very difficult for him.

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