McCain was absolutely dead in the water and going no where until the rocket fuel that was Palin. With Palin, McCain almost pulled it off... until he announced eight days before the election that we had nothing to worry about with an Obama presidency.
LOL. Fat Chance.
The bigger problem for McCain was his “I’m suspending my campaign” moment during the financial crisis. He flew back to Washington where, unlike Obama who was taking the Dem leadership role, he sat quietly and didn’t do squat.