John McCain has been endlessly criticized by Republicans for running an incompetent campaign, and especially for not basing his entire campaign on attacking Rev. Jermiah Wright. But McCain could have the last laugh. With Mark Begich the next senator from Alaska, and Al Franken having a decent chance at winning in Minnesota, the Republicans might be down to 41 senators. That would be just enough to prevent cloture--provide that all 41 Republican senators stuck together. But suppose that McCain, stung by all the criticism from Republicans, decided to revert back to his former maverick self and work with the Democrats as he has done in the past (think: McCain-Feingold on campaign finance reform and McCain-Kennedy on immigration).

 

Stronger yet, suppose Obama were to ask McCain to work out deals on immigration, climate change, earmark reform, and other issues dear to his heart and then be the 60th vote to get them through the Senate. Mitch McConnell would be in a blue funk having McCain bypass the Republican caucus and negotiate directly with Obama, but McCain could do that and Obama is likely to be receptive to the idea. From McCain's point of view, going down in history as the main author of bills on climate change, immigration, and earmark reform, among other important topics, is a lot better than going down in history as just another failed presidential candidate.