That said, I don’t think reading John McCain as some rabid social conservative is correct. He is a maverick primarily because a lot of social conservatives recoil at the thought of him being the Republican nominee.

Does he have a socially conservative voting record? Sure. But McCain is no “Christian values” politician, which is why a lot of Christian leaders in the States are wary of him. He struggle to speak their language on their issues. For instance, he’s a big supporter of state rights when most social conservatives are not (i.e. constitutional ban on gay marriage).

What makes McCain a great nominee for the Republican party is: A.) his willingness to campaign everywhere, even places you would think he should just write off (but he does it because he’s a conviction politician and leads by convincing others of his policy direction, AND he knows that doing so demonstrates that he is not interested in narrow factionalism), and B.) he is able to articulate, and particularly well given his personal heroism and patriotic service, a common sense ground to good and evil in the world. A lot of people find that he provides good perspective on the problems facing the US.

At the end of the day, the trend in 2008 seems to be in favour of broad based principled politics and personal integrity. On the face of it, John McCain demonstrates both, which is why even so many Democrats respect him. Even Obama admits that McCain is a great American with a tremendous record of service to his country.

In some ways McCain has the most exciting candidacy of them all. He has the integrity of Bob Dole but with a certain manly edginess that makes him anything but old and dull.

Not only is his campaign very unorthodox (not the fund raising machine of Bush-Cheney), he will attract votes because his politics of conviction hold him up quite well, even against Obama, if not more so.

McCain’s record is one of staking out a principled position and leading others to where he wants to take them and the country. It’s hard not to respect someone willing to take a lot heat for going against the tide of popular opinion. His support for the Iraq troop surge long before it happened, and when it was widely unpopular, highlights this clearly. His criticism of how Bush handled the war highlight this from the opposite direction.

Obama would be a disaster. It’s one thing to state high platitudes with oratorical flourish, it’s quite another to live up to them. At some point, high platitudes have to make sense to people in real world contexts.

McCain can demonstrate both, which is why, unlike Bush, he attracts so many supporters of Clinton AND Obama as THEIR second preference.