Essential

How McCain Went Wrong

Roger Simon’s early obituary.

McCain has found his voice on the stump in the final days of this election but his campaign has continued to blunder painfully toward the finish line. This Saturday, writes Roger Simon at Politico, it introduced an endorsement by Dick Cheney. “Here is John McCain struggling to demonstrate to the voters that his election will not represent four more years of the George W. Bush administration, and so who does McCain’s campaign trot out? The leading architect of the George W. Bush administration!” In his appearance on Saturday Night Live this weekend, McCain showed flashes of his humorous, easygoing side that captivated the press for years. But more than anything, writes Simon, the show was a kind of eulogy—the last gasp of a candidate who knows the joke is on him.