MCCAIN THE PARTY MAN. I'm a little nonplussed about the news that John McCain's staff approached John Kerry's people about the vice-presidential slot. John Weaver, the McCain advisor who apparently made the pitch, is an interesting guy, and not one who always and only carries out his bosses wishes. Indeed, I wouldn't be surprised if this was Weaver's own initiative. Moreover, the proof here seems to be in the pudding: McCain said no. Kerry, by all accounts, was ecstatic about the idea, as a Kerry-McCain ticket would have crushed Bush-Cheney. But McCain, in the end, didn't bite, just as he didn't flip parties in 2001. The guy has, despite quite a bit of temptation and, for that matter, some stinging rejections and ill-treatment, remained a Republican. In retrospect, that will probably look like a stupid decision, but it's rather natural given that he's conservative on just about every politically relevant issue in contemporary American life. --Ezra Klein
