However, the frontrunner for the 2008 Republican nomination was John McCain when the SRLC began, as it was when it ended. (Note George F. Will's comments during the "This Week" roundtable that the stars are beginning to align for McCain in 2008).
Dan Balz's Sunday story in the Washington Post explains how the rest of the field will have to find a path around McCain for the nomination and wonders if the former maverick can become the establishment candidate. LINK
The Los Angeles Times' Barabak and Hook also write up McCain's efforts at courting Bush loyalists. LINK
Howard Fineman calls McCain's straw poll strategy a "splendid dodge" before writing that it was "perhaps too clever by half" in light of the results. Fineman also gets McCain to confirm a phone call he made to President Bush to buck him up on the eve of the SRLC. LINK