The Arizona senator was counted out earlier this year after public discontent with Iraq and immigration reform knocked him off his front-runner's perch. When I'd see him in Washington, McCain himself would acknowledge the damage. But don't count him out yet.
Yes, he trails badly in fund-raising. And yes, he trails in national polls. But John McCain remains within striking distance in New Hampshire, the place he walloped George Bush in 2000. And the issues are coming back his way: rebounding Republican support for the troop surge in Iraq, and a renewed focus on spending as fiscal conservatives from President Bush on down reassert their voices now that Democrats control Congress.
The odds are against McCain. But the one-time Vietnam POW has survived greater odds before.
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