So what would happen in the Republican side if John McCain were forced to leave the race?
I honestly don't know what to make of the McCain/lobbyist story in the NYT and associated news/ pushback/ innuendo. There seem to be so many missing pieces of the story - what do the Times/ Isikoff/ etc know or suspect that didn't show up in that heavily redacted piece we saw? If there is smoke, will there be fire? Or will McCain manage to come out of this looking like Mr. Clean with a new level of support from conservatives now that he can rail against the NYT?
But the whole thing has got me to thinking - exactly what would happen to the Republican nomination if this whole thing turns out to have legs and John McCain had to step aside before the St. Paul Convention? Who would the Republicans turn to? How would their nomination battle play out? (Note, I'm not predicting it is going to happen, I don't think it will -- but it is at least interesting to try to guess what the outcome would be)