When thinking about the GOP's burgeoning civil war and the likelihood of a reformist bloc emerging in Congress, you have to take into account the McCain hangover. Liberals, of course, believe that McCain stepped onto the national stage and abandoned his reformist agenda. Conservatives, however, believe the opposite: They think they buckled to elite pressure and ran the reputable centrist and got painted as extremists anyway. Bush and Reagan did much better. Lesson: If you're going to run a conservative, run a conservative.The interesting counterfactual here is imagining if McCain had won in South Carolina in 2000 and then trashed Al Gore. The modern GOP would, I imagine, look rather different. Instead, his legacy is showing that a centrist message doesn't work in the Republican primaries and a centrist reputation doesn't carry you through the general. Related: Eve Fairbanks' article on the extremist pressures in the House Republican Caucus.• Dave Weigel on the confident conservatives. THE TRAGEDY OF MCCAIN.
When thinking about the GOP's burgeoning civil war and the likelihood of a reformist bloc emerging in Congress, you have to take into account the McCain hangover. Liberals, of course, believe that McCain stepped onto the national stage and abandoned his reformist agenda. Conservatives, however, believe the opposite: They think they buckled to elite pressure and ran the reputable centrist and got painted as extremists anyway. Bush and Reagan did much better. Lesson: If you're going to run a conservative, run a conservative.The interesting counterfactual here is imagining if McCain had won in South Carolina in 2000 and then trashed Al Gore. The modern GOP would, I imagine, look rather different. Instead, his legacy is showing that a centrist message doesn't work in the Republican primaries and a centrist reputation doesn't carry you through the general. Related: Eve Fairbanks' article on the extremist pressures in the House Republican Caucus.• Dave Weigel on the confident conservatives. 
