Why McCain Would Lose

Senator John McCain--darling of the centrists and lefties alike--has one hell of a shot of getting the nomination in '08. The biggest problem he may have is the animosity of the blogosphere:

Editor's note: The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is currently under court order to consider extending regulation and restriction of political speech outlined by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA, also known as McCain-Feingold). The court order was the result of a lawsuit filed by advocates of regulated speech, including the architects of BCRA, Sens. John McCain and Russ Feingold. Users of the Internet, such as online publications and blogs, so far have enjoyed a broad exemption from the speech restrictions favored by reformers. But the court-ordered rule-making by the FEC could change that. The FEC has asked for comments from the public before a scheduled hearing on the matter that will take place June 28-29 in Washington, D.C.

Did bloggers elect GWB in '04? The answer to that is partly. The Democratic spin machine did everything they could to bring down Bush, including using fraudulent documents and the like. The blogosphere as a whole, and sites such as LGF and Powerline in particular, played a vital role in fact checking every attempt to smear the President and, at times, had the media on their collective heels.

That said, the far-reaching effects of McCain-Feingold has left bloggers on both the left and right feeling pissy about the scam that is campign finance reform. When you have opinions as diverse as Glenn Reynolds, Atrios and Kos lining up on a side, strange things are happening.