Conversely, a McCain victory tomorrow would further fuel his insurgency to remake and reform the Republican Party. And once that's gone, there isn't much left for Bush to claim. I wrote months ago that Bush could be a political souffl just waiting for someone to slam the oven door. A McCain win in South Carolina could take that souffl down fast. McCain's prairie fire would keep burning over the next few days and into California.
Polls show the election to be very close.
But pollsters can't call this one. Bush has a healthy lead among Republicans and is doing everything he didn't do in New Hampshire to convince voters he's the better candidate. His performance in Wednesday night's debate, for example, televised nationally on CNN, was his best of the campaign. If not mastery, he showed at least some substantive knowledge of many issues he formerly had ducked or had discussed only in canned phrases from his stump speech. And his willingness to aggressively tout his record in Texas and criticize McCain on negative campaign tactics showed a desire to win that previously had been lacking.