Giuliani is dropping out and endorsing John McCain, according to the folks at NBC. That's a big one. "America's Mayor" saw his campaign fizzle out in pretty short order once we got to the nitty-gritty, and banking everything on a single primary--Florida--obviously did not pay off for him. It's a huge pick-up for McCain, as he gets a big name backing his bid in addition to his victory tonight, giving him even more momentum going into next week's "Super Tuesday."
Even with another victory, McCain still has a long way to go to secure the nomination based on the margins of victory he's had thus far. He may have a plurality of delegates but he lacks a majority; look what happened to Michael Ignatieff as a lesson in what happens when you have a solid lead but not a lock. There's still the chance that the conservative wing of the Republican Party will formulate an anyone-but-McCain bloc that puts someone like Romney into prime position to win at the convention. If that happens, it'll probably be lights out for their hopes of winning the White House, because there's little chance that moderates or slightly right-leaning Democrats are going to embrace somebody endorsed by the religious Right who holds anti-abortion, anti-same sex marriage views. Sure, McCain isn't exactly on the progressive side of these issues, but they're not hallmarks of his candidacy and he doesn't spend nearly the amount of time talking about these "hot button social issues" as his colleagues do. McCain's appeal lies in his character as much as in his policy, which gives him the opportunity to move towards the centre and poach some of those voters that are in the middle. We'll see what adding Giuliani to his roster does as well. Ticket, perhaps?
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