More on McCain

President Bush spoke at CPAC at 7:15am, an hour when normal people’s brains are still somewhere between gravy and melted ice cream. But it says something about his diminished status that the buzz around the conference today is still all about Romney and, to an even greater extent, John McCain. I don’t have much to say about Romney other than endorsing this post by Chris Orr. (Just read it, I promise.)

Meanwhile, my conversations here indicate (anecdotally, of course) a mix of tentativeness and gradual acceptance to the idea that John McCain will be the nominee. Is he perfect? Not by a long shot. But, as Robert Novak made exceedingly clear in his speech at the banquet last night, there are demonstrable differences between McCain and other candidates. And, as I noted yesterday, the economic policies he proposed at the end of his speech were about as strong as one could hope given his temperament and history. As policy goes, it’s certainly the best that’s being proposed by a serious presidential contender right now.