Despite the fact that the media narrative says it's a Democratic year, I think things are looking pretty good for John McCain right now.
For one thing, the McCain campaign has gotten a head-start on defining the likely opponent, Barack Obama.
Meanwhile, Obama has his hands-full fending-off Hillary Clinton's charges of plagiarism, as well as dealing with the three ways the Clintons might steal this election ...
1. Breaking DNC rules by seating Michigan and Florida delegates,If Hillary's devious attempts work, she will have destroyed her base, and I don't think she could win a General Election. But even if Obama survives, he will have wasted a lot of time and resources. And it is entirely possible that in winning such a nasty primary fight, his reputation would be would be hurt among independents.
2. Having "Super Delegates" overrule the will of the people, or
3. Even poaching Obama's pledged delegates...
And the icing on the cake is that, though McCain gets to start acting like the nominee, Huckabee keeps things interesting on nights like tonight, when 100 percent of the attention would otherwise focus on the Democrats ...
Lastly, it seems like most conservatives are on-board -- or, at least -- it seems that the vocal criticism of him has subsided.
(It took a bizarre set of circumstances and "luck" for McCain to get to where he is. Could it be that he will continue to enjoy a series of fortunate events?)
He's still got a long way to go, but I think he has (so far) successfully made the transition from insurgent to likely nominee, without losing his mojo.
In terms of his chances in a General Election, at this early stage, McCain seems to be in much better shape, at this point, than most people would have thought.