McCain is sort of a tragic figure in US politics. He has the assets to hold ALL the cards in every race he runs. He also has the ratings in overall career development. Yet he steadfastly insists on being on the wrong side away from his base on most of the really salient issues in our era.
Sometimes I think he has a fear of success and knows that he is better off running and could never get the job done if he actually won. Maybe he also enjoyed too much the limelight provided by the wrong people over the years.