Possibly they feel that McCain's statement that he will keep troops in
Iraq "a hundred years if necessary" will guarantee Israel's continued
domination of the Mideast through its U.S. proxy. Another reason is that
they feel that a democrat candidate has a better chance against McCain
than Romney because of McCain's negative baggage despite of what the
alleged "polls" say.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/28/us/politics/28repubs.html?ref=politics

LADY LAKE, Fla. - Is John McCain, the maverick flyboy of the Republican
Party, becoming the candidate of the Republican establishment?

Mr. McCain, who has delighted in sticking his thumb in the eye of
mainstream Republicans throughout his political career, is now
accumulating a base of support among party regulars who see him as the
strongest general election candidate in the remaining Republican field.
The latest evidence came Saturday night with the endorsement of Florida's
popular Republican governor, Charlie Crist, which surprised even Mr.
McCain. That state holds primary elections on Tuesday.

In an interview Sunday, Mr. Crist said his endorsement was based on "trust
and confidence and friendship," as well as what he said were Mr. McCain's
unmatched national security credentials.

But he also said he believed that Mr. McCain had the broadest appeal of
the four major Republican candidates still standing and the best chance of
beating the Democratic nominee in November. "I've been traveling the
state, and in the last few days people have been taking this very
seriously," he said. "I think Tuesday will be very telling, and it will be
a great day for Senator McCain."

The Crist endorsement came 24 hours after that of Senator Mel Martinez of
Florida, a former general chairman of the Republican National Committee
and a popular figure in Florida's Cuban-American community.

Mr. McCain has also won the support of a number of established party
figures, including moderates like former Senators John C. Danforth of
Missouri and Howard H. Baker Jr. of Tennessee and conservatives like
Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and former Representative Jack F. Kemp of
New York.

A year ago, Mr. McCain entered the nominating contest as the presumed
front-runner, surrounded by a team of policy advisers and fund-raisers
from the Bush administration and the two winning Bush campaigns. But the
McCain effort imploded last summer in acrimony and financial ruin, and
Rudolph W. Giuliani, a former New York mayor, and Mitt Romney, a former
governor of Massachusetts, surged to the front of the pack.

But Mr. McCain battled back, and many party leaders and Congressional
colleagues rallied to his side after it became clear that he was again
viable with his victories in New Hampshire and South Carolina.

"Maybe some of it is because of friendship," Mr. McCain said in an
interview Sunday, "although that is the most overrated aspect of American
politics. But some of it is because of electability."

He cited several polls that seemed to show him the strongest of the
Republican candidates against the leading Democratic candidates, Senator
Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Senator Barack Obama of Illinois.

Mr. McCain also has a long list of newspaper endorsements, far more than
any of his rivals.

All this, of course, in part reflects the bandwagon effect in politics,
the cold calculation by politicians that it is wise to get behind the
front-runner, and the earlier the better. There is an element, too, of
disdain for Mr. Romney, who has altered a number of positions he held as
governor and who is running against Washington, which he has proclaimed
"broken."

Mr. Martinez, introducing Mr. McCain at a town-hall-style meeting at a
retiree development here, about 45 miles northwest of Orlando, made the
electability argument explicit. "It's important that we win in November,
and I think John McCain gives us the best chance to win in November," he
said, citing polls that show Mr. McCain would be the most competitive
against the Democratic nominee.

"We need John McCain to be the standard bearer," Mr. Martinez said.

But the apparent coalescing of much of the Republican establishment around
Mr. McCain carries drawbacks as well. Many in the right wing of the party
consider him an apostate and a certain loser in a general election.

Rush Limbaugh, the conservative radio commentator, has warned that if Mr.
McCain wins the nomination, "it's going to destroy the Republican Party"
because conservatives will desert in droves. Many object to his moderate
views on immigration. Pro-business conservatives have attacked his
positions on the environment, pointing to legislation Mr. McCain has
co-sponsored to address climate change. Conservatives have also attacked
his high-profile criticism of Republicans in Congress over pork barrel
spending and of President Bush on the early conduct of the Iraq war.

A spokesman for Mr. Romney, who is competing fiercely with Mr. McCain for
votes in Florida's primary on Tuesday, said the endorsement of Mr.
Martinez was predictable because he and Mr. McCain had co-sponsored
immigration legislation that many Republicans rejected as too lenient on
illegal immigrants.

Mr. Romney's endorsement list tilts toward the conservative wing of the
party. It includes Senators Thad Cochran of Mississippi and Judd Gregg of
New Hampshire, Govs. Dave Heineman of Nebraska and Matt Blunt of Missouri
and the conservative advocates David Keene and Paul Weyrich.

One neutral state party Republican chairman, who insisted on anonymity to
discuss the contest candidly, said that the endorsements might help
validate Mr. McCain with some Republican voters, but they would turn off
others.

"It's a tricky double-edged sword," the official said. "They point out all
the problems conservatives have with him."

The official added: "The real problem is, where is the base? He hasn't won
anywhere with just Republican votes. California is much more conservative
on the Republican side, and so is New York, and those are closed primaries
and he can't count on independent or Democratic votes."

Steve Duprey, a former Republican chairman in New Hampshire who is now a
McCain supporter, said that many establishment figures were falling in
line behind Mr. McCain now after watching the campaign unfold. He said
that his peers - state and county party leaders, precinct captains, local
elected officials - were now starting to ask which candidate had the best
chance of winning.

"As the race has sorted itself out," he said, "more and more people are
coming to believe that John McCain has made a compelling case that he's
ready to lead on Day 1."