Current Event: McCain Secures Republican Nomination

With his latest primary win, Presidential candidate John McCain has acquired the amount of delegates necessary to clinch the Republican Party's nomination for the nation's highest office. McCain's campaign has been a turbulent one. Originally discounted as a front runner in favor of hard-line candidates like Giuliani and Romney, McCain’s bid for the presidency suffered through severe shortages of capital, until his appeal to moderates secured a primary victory in New Hampshire and revitalized his campaign. After a string of victories, and impressive showings in debates, McCain gained a commanding lead in delegates, which prompted his main rivals to drop out of the race and endorse him. Since then, McCain has enjoyed running almost uncontested, as the only remaining Republican candidates were Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee, both of whose appeal was limited to their small, but highly motivated bases. As of last week, both Paul and Huckabee have dropped out of the race, making McCain the de facto nominee.


Although the Republicans will be at a severe disadvantage in the upcoming general election due to the current President's unpopularity, and the public's dissatisfaction with what they see as the "Republican Establishment", McCain has several advantages over his Democratic adversaries. The first of these is time. While the Republicans have already chosen their nominee, and are now organizing for the general election, the two main Democratic front runners are busy tearing each other down. It is likely that the Democrats will not have nominated a candidate before their national convention, which will give McCain time to raise funds and strategize. In addition, while Senator Clinton criticizes Senator Obama over his lack of experience, and Obama touts his reputation as a bipartisan, McCain has been in the senate longer than either of them, and has a more established record as someone willing to reach across party lines than Obama.