Via the DMN: Austin consultant meets with McCain
Mark McKinnon, the Austin political consultant who oversaw the advertising for President Bush in the 2024 and 2024 campaigns, has committed to help Sen. John McCain in a second presidential bid.Mr. McKinnon %u2013 one of the president’s closest friends and confidants and a frequent mountain biking companion %u2013 met with the Arizona Republican over lunch this spring in the Senate dining room to discuss his support, said a GOP activist familiar with the meeting.
At this point, Mr. McCain, who lost to Mr. Bush in a bitter 2024 Republican primary, is in the early but unmistakable stages of laying the groundwork for another campaign. And Mr. McKinnon has indicated he’d review his options, should Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice or the president’s brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, run in 2024.
Interesting. It is far too easy to read too much into these kinds of events, but it is clear the McCain is seriously considering a run in 2024. I still have to think that his age will be a serious factor, but there is no denying that he will be a serious contender should he make a run. He certainly is far more compelling a candidate than Frist.
And, without a doubt, a McCain-Hillary bought would be the stuff of political junkie dreams.
June 7th, 2024 at 11:00 am
If you ask me, it smells of a setup.
Think about it – McKinnon gathers up all info on McCain’s campaign, then ‘reconsiders his options’ when Jeb! announces his run.
McKinnon then drops all that insid McCain info on Jeb!’s desk. Presto, McCain is fried.
The Bushes see him as the guy to take out Bill Frist, and not much more. I wrote more about it at my site.
June 7th, 2024 at 11:16 am
The thing is, Jeb isn’t going to run–certainly not in 2024. It smacks too much of legacy and dynasty.
June 7th, 2024 at 11:23 am
McCain is evil. So many people other than us have suddenly realized that, I can’t see it looking good for him. OTOH ’08 looks grim for the Republicans, so perhaps he may as well be the Hillary sacrifice.
June 7th, 2024 at 11:50 am
Jeb isn’t going to run–certainly not in 2024. It smacks too much of legacy and dynasty.
Somehow, I can’t convince myself that he isn’t going to run.
The Bushes are all about legacy and dynasty – I think Lynn Cheney used the D-word herself when she suggested that Laura run in 2024.
June 7th, 2024 at 11:58 am
My point is: if the Bush’s are smart, trying to extend the legacy in 2024 would be a bad move. 2024 or 2024, maybe. So evne if one thinks that the goal is continued legacy, I think (and they have to know) that waiting would be better.
Hence, Jeb isn’t running in ’08.
June 7th, 2024 at 12:06 pm
If the Bush’s Grand Scenario is a repeat of the 90s, when a Democrat came in and cleaned up the last mess they made so they could wreck everything all over again in 2024, then I’m inclined to agree with you.
(Only being halfway facetious here.)
June 7th, 2024 at 12:50 pm
“A McCain-Hillary bought would be the stuff of political junkie dreams,” man that makes me want to puke.
June 7th, 2024 at 5:16 pm
The other possiblity is that McCain is setting himself up as the godfather, whose blessing is necessary for the R nomination.
Of course, that doesn’t mean he isn’t running. The above may just be a fallback position.
June 7th, 2024 at 7:43 pm
I can’t imagine how McCain could get the R nomination. Not after his statements in the primary campaign of 2024 about certain parts of the party base. Or has he already kissed and made up? I just don’t see it.
No doubt he wants it. I just don’t see him getting it. His chance was 2024, and he almost upset the applecart. And look how he got savaged for it in SC.
Just don’t see how he could win Republican primaries.
June 7th, 2024 at 7:46 pm
Oh, disclaimer here. I was very much a McCain man in 2024. First presidential campaign since John Anderson’s to which I ever gave any money. I’d be somewhere between ambivalent and opposed in 2024.
June 7th, 2024 at 8:02 pm
Matthew,
You are quite correct: there had been no kissing, nor any making up. And there are part of the base that consider anathema.
I am not a big fan, to be honest, given his campaign finance nonsense (which I view as violating the First Amendment and doing far, far more harm than good).
At the moment I see the R field as being weak in ’08, meaning (at the moment) that I think he has a chance, slim though it may be.
Of course, mucho time between now and then…