Who is reponsible for McCain's imminent election loss ?

[Padfoot]

Sarah Palin has amounted to a net negative for the McCain camp.  She solidified the base but her real purpose was to bring in the PUMAS and instead she sent them running to Obama.

The McCain campaign has been a mess from the start.  Although McCain's primary comeback was nothing short of astounding it was perhaps an indication that the campaign was poorly organized.  Looking back, I'm beginning to think that McCain's won only because the Bush voters from 2000 were so split up amongst the other candidates.  The race really should have been Romney vs. Huckabee but with candidates like Guiliani and Thompson siphoning away their core supporters McCain was left with the plurality of the remaining votes.  I'll give their campaign credit for winning New Hampshire but certainly not Florida or South Carolina which are really the two states that gave him the momentum he needed to win Super Tuesday.

George Bush, um enough said.

The failing economy, this has basically been McCain's "October surprise."  Up until the financial collapse it was looking like McCain still had a decent shot, but since then his numbers have tanked in several key states that he absolutely needed to win.  Florida, North Carolina, and Missouri were suddenly back on the table and Colorado and Virginia moved dramatically towards Obama.