McCAIN WINS NOMINATION

If only he weren't incredibly unlikable, it could have been Mitt Romney coasting to victory tonight. But no....

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Michael Graham at National Review Online speaks for the right-wing purists:

...So it is over. Finished. In November, we'll be sending out our most liberal, least trustworthy candidate vs. to take on Hillary Clinton -- perhaps not more liberal than Barack Obama, but certainly far less trustworthy....

Every day, he dreams of a world filled with happy Democrats and insulted Republicans. And he is, thanks to Florida, the presidential nominee of the Republican party.

And on that note, I'm off to climb into a bottle of Bushmill's. It's going to be a LONG nine months.

Why do I find myself unable to dismiss the notion that people like Graham (and Limbaugh and Malkin and Hannity) are just saying these things to fool us into thinking McCain isn't "really" a Republican, so more swing voters will vote for him in November and they'll keep their precious White House?

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Real Clear Politics poll averages: McCain beats Clinton by 0.1% and trails Obama by 0.3%. (UPDATE: Numbers were accurate when I posted; they've changed since.) Er, whatever happened to that Democrat blowout that was supposed to happen in '08, as a result of the war and the economy and the unpopularity of Bush? And that's before the nine-month tongue bath McCain's about to get from the press. Oh, well -- maybe Chris Matthews and Maureen Dowd will get hit by a bus, and the Democrats will at least be able to stay competitive.

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Oh, Lieberman, according to AP, is "unequivocally ruling out sharing the GOP ticket with McCain." But:

Lieberman did say that if McCain wins the nomination, he'd likely attend the Republican convention.

"I'd probably be more welcome there," he said.

What have I been saying for months? Not only do I think he'll give a speech, I think he'll give the speech introducing McCain. What amazing crossover appeal that Maverick will seem to have!

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Ed Koch on Giuliani: "The beast is dead." Heh.