If he was doomed from the start, then why did he and Palin lead in the polls right after the Pubbie convention? If it was fated to be a Dem year, then why didn’t Obama-Biden have a crushing lead from the start? It was only until the financial crash did Obama overtake McCain.
McCain never lead Obama for more than a four or five days, and that was from the convention.
The financial collapse made the hole for McCain impossible to dig out of, but before the convention he never lead Obama. Sure it was two or three points, and not 5 to 10 deficit.
I don’t think McCain or any Republican could win with a two term extremely unpopular Republican President in office.