Showdown in the Sunshine State: Is McCain’s surge too late?

The Associated Press

Sen. John McCain courts the youth vote.

Featured Topic | Posted 42 weeks 5 days ago

Showdown in the Sunshine State: Is McCain’s surge too late?

Sen. John McCain is pushing hard in the remaining 24 hours before the Florida primary. He's collecting endorsements from prominent Florida pols, including Gov. Charlie Crist and Sen. Mel Martinez. And he's attacking rival Mitt Romney, who holds the lead in some polls.

McCain's tough tactics in Florida are also raising the hackles of some conservatives who distrust the Arizona Senator. With the race so close and the stakes so high, has McCain overplayed his hand?

Ben likes: Did he or didn't he?

Paul Mirengoff/Powerline

The fact remains that, throughout the debate about Iraq, John McCain brought to the table an independence of judgment that Mitt Romney (and just about everyone else) did not. McCain refused to defer to the Defense Department when things were going badly in Iraq. Rather he kept advocating another approach -- essentially the one that’s working now. So McCain has the better record, but that doesn't justify trying to make Romney’s record sound worse than it is.

Joel likes: "Well, he's lying"

Andrew Sullivan/Daily Dish

Romney blurts out the truth. For a change. But it remains true that he was never as enthusiastic/delusional a supporter of the surge as McCain. McCain's biggest liability in the fall is his total embrace of a permanent Iraq occupation. Romney, as usual, gave himself some lee-way.