Although I know that he repeatedly cites his loyalty(?) to the Republican Party as his motivation, I always thought that it was odd how McCain actively campaigned for George Bush in 2004 (and against his buddy Kerry). This was in spite of what had happened to him in South Carolina in 2000 and his well-known bittnerness toward Bush over it. Consequently, I would not be at all surprised if he and Bush had worked out some sort of secret "understanding" whereby Bush's machine would back McCain in 2008 if McCain would publicly back Bush in 2004.
Does this make any sense, considering that all of these Bush team members are now migrating over to McCain in apparently large numbers?