The Straight-Talk Express Derails

Here we are barely into the general election campaign and one of the candidates has already imploded.

On a personal, human, level, it's kind of sad, disquieting actually, to watch a man wither away in the most public of venues possible: the glare of full-bore media coverage in a presidential election.

While Obama has had some stumbles himself over the last fortnight or so, they have generally been policy focused, not personal. He's still composed, still intelligent, still in command. Not so, John McCain.

He's no longer the shoot-from-the-hip, swaggering ex-Navy pilot; he's a guy who can't deliver a pre-written speech without stumbling over his words; he's a guy who makes off-the-cuff remarks that tend to indicate he's not quite aware of who's who or what's what in the game he's playing. He comes across on that all important medium of television as a cross between Capt. Queeg and the stoic Capt. of the Titanic. Either way, it's obvious his ship is taking on water.

He's now on his THIRD campaign management team; Barack remains with his original crew virtually intact and adds to it with stars from HRC's professional army, while McCain is forced almost back to square one.

In sports, there are those guys that are unquestioned Superstars in the Minor leagues or College who, when they make it to the Big Leagues, fold like a house of cards.

It would seem that the Republicans are stuck with running one of the all time great Minor Leaguers in the biggest league of them all: the contest for the Presidency of the United States.

One question for those more acquainted with the Rules: Can the Repubs nominate anyone other than McCain at their convention, or are they completely locked in to him?