Bush has said, and has so far demonstrated, that he is not such a candidate. McCain has now made clear that he will not retire quietly from the scene. Before bowing out, he obviously intends to extract concessions from Gov. Bush. His liberal and neo-conservative enablers will continue to support him in this cause as well. Bush will hopefully remember the hard lesson he learned from McCain's challenge from the left.
Republicans are quite adept at electing principled conservative candidates.
Bush has already given too much ground on the campaign finance reform issue. Further compromise would be suicidal. He must not listen to the architects of his demise urging him to sell his political soul. He must be very careful in choosing his running mate and stay the conservative course. His handlers should just let George be George.