For a few months, there were several middle-aged white men vying for the Republican spot on the November ballot, but now it is down to two - and one of which mathematically cannot close the gap in the delegate count, let alone win the nomination. It is all but done: Sen. John McCain will be the GOP nominee for president of the United States.
And the Democrats are back to old stereotypes: bickering and wallowing in chaos while the other party rallies around its new flag-bearer. While the Republicans convince themselves that the will of the people to choose McCain was right and that he is the best man for the job, the Democrats are wide-eyed in fear that their own convoluted nomination system is going to implode and leave them in ruins come the convention.
But maybe it is not such a bad thing that Democrats still cannot figure out who they want to nominate in Denver. Maybe it is exactly what the party needs before going into the general election, whoever the nominee may be.
As this past Thursday showed, being the last man standing has its drawbacks. McCain was accused in The New York Times ("For McCain, Self-Confidence on Ethics Poses Its Own Risk") of pandering to lobbying interests while campaigning on ethics reform in the 2000 election. He was accused of failing to practice what he preached. And, scandal among scandals, he was accused of cheating on his wife with a lobbyist who was spending a little too much time on the campaign jet. This was all in one article, and it came mere weeks after he locked down his presumptive nominee status. No matter your opinions on the journalistic bias of The New York Times, it is hard to a disregard solid fact: With only one Republican to focus on, all the attention - good and bad - falls to McCain.
Meanwhile, the media attention devoted to the Democratic contest is still throwing around ideas of a delegate stalemate. The Democrats may still be working to determine a flag-bearer, but at least the media is focused on the process story and not on the sordid pasts of the candidates. That comes in the general election, and McCain has a head start.
National media has tried picking up the critical threads from both Obama and Clinton. Is Clinton too close to special interests? Did Obama lift some campaign material from friend and campaign co-chairman Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick? These might have been bigger stories if they had come out two months from now. No matter what the Democratic candidates have hidden away, those secrets are still less interesting than the horse race.
So while McCain builds his coalition of support, he also gets every critical glare pointed in his direction. Those same critical eyes will turn to a Democratic nominee soon enough, but until there is only one standing, the story is going to be about the prospect of an all-out brawl for delegates in Denver. And that is too good for the media to pass up, no matter what kind of landlord scum is donating to Obama's Senate campaign or how many millions of dollars Clinton paid her strategists.
Yes, the Republican nominee has more time to hone a message molded for the general electorate and no longer has to worry about attacks as much from the right. But that also means both Democratic camps get a glimpse of the kind of attacks to expect in the fall. Each candidate can pose opposite the Arizona senator and can use the comparison as selling points. Clinton and Obama claim they can beat McCain in the general election, and each can practice using him as a punching bag. McCain still has a moving target, and does not know whom to hit.
Lisa Petak is a senior in the School of Public Affairs and the College of Arts and Sciences and a liberal columnist for The Eagle.
