Me neither. It is harder for a third party GOPer to win today since most of us remember what happened with Perot in the race. As unhappy as conservatives were with Bush 41, the result was the ethically challenged Bill Clinton winning. Few Republicans want to see a repeat.
I believe the press continues to hype McCain in the hope he'll split the voters, or be someone the media can support. McCain more closely resembles the preferred media image of what a good Republican is supposed to be like: a Democrat.
Well .. if Hillary is in the race .. the media will not pay any attention to McCain. With an ego like his, I doubt he realizes that. The media only love McCain because he will diss the repubs - they don't care about him for any other reason.