John McCain laid out his case to be President.  He worked to re-brand the Republican image by telling the American people they can trust them again to lead on energy and the economy.  He gave more details in his speech than Barack Obama did in his last week.

But whereas, Vice-President nominee Sarah Palin appealed to the base, McCain was talking to the broader electorate asking for one more chance at the helm.

I think it was rather ironic that the man so many Republicans despised because of things like McCain-Feingold .  Ann Coulter said she would campaign for Hillary Clinton if McCain became the nominee.   They went nuts over his illegal immigration reform plan.  And they frequently called him a Rino (Republican in name only).

He manged to get through it all.  He beat Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani.

And with the incumbent President’s approval rating at about 25 percent, that “Rino” may be the GOP’s only saving grace.

My, how times have changed.