Analysts suggest the party's elite has lost touch with electorate and needs to regroup.
Being governor of a big state put a sheen of legitimacy on his bid. What the establishment hadn't counted on in New Hampshire was that voters would look at the core product and find it wanting. For the most part, he votes with his party, and he has a consistently conservative record. GOP political regulars were stunned by George W. Bush's New Hampshire loss. Now that McCain has shown what he can do when actual voters go to the polls, Bush's backers are in a bind.