wafflesatnoon.com

A quick Google News search shows Obama and Clinton have about 50,000 more news listings than John McCain. Today’s main pages for Fox News, CNN, ABC News, and MSNBC have McCain completely off the radar. Only Fox had a single McCain story (barely) visible on their main page’s initial loading screen. The others required scrolling down to see anything McCain-related.

The Obama/Clinton horse race has the media riveted, while McCain continues to vanish from the radar. While in some ways it’s good that McCain is able to concentrate on raising funds for the general election, and focus his attacks on the Democrats, the lack of media coverage negates those benefits, particularly the latter.

It remains to be seen if the ultimate nominee on the Democratic side will emerge stronger as a result of the drawn-out race, or if that person will be able to reach out successfully to the loser’s base. There is surely talk of a Clinton/Obama or Obama/Clinton ticket, which would perhaps be able to use the constant media coverage of late as fuel for their general election campaign. A splintered party full of disenfranchised voters could be the death knell for Democrats. And McCain appeals to independents and disenfranchised party voters. A splintered party could be a real possibility if both of the current candidates don’t end up on the Democratic ticket.

McCain knows this and he is watching carefully. In fact a successful White House bid may depend on it.

John McCain is essentially off the media radar and will continue to be so for nearly 6 months. He can’t hope to catch up in the couple months between the Republican convention and the general election. He needs a splintered Democratic party, and for the electorate to follow recent historical trends, which slightly lean in his favor.

The conservative wing of the party, as reluctant as they are to support John McCain, are actually the ones keeping his name from disappearing completely off the map. They are the ones discussing his conservative or liberal voting record. They are the ones discussing his faith. They are the ones who are discussing his Washington network.  In other words, as disappointed as they are, the conservatives are keeping McCain’s name out there.

Recent mini-scandals including his flare up at a NY Times reporter and his alleged affair with a lobbyist years ago are the best things to happen to McCain since Mike Huckabee dropped out of the race.

In other words, McCain needs all the controversy he can get… just to stay above the radar.

One has to wonder if Howard Dean has pulled any strings to keep the Obama/Clinton race as tight as possible. It makes for riveting political talk and speculation. And keeps McCain conveniently forgotten.

Good thing we have Rush and the angry conservatives to keep McCain’s name alive.