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AMERICA’S Republicans head for the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St Paul this weekend in a position that few of them could have imagined even a month ago. Although voters claim that they prefer Democrats to the representatives of the Grand Old Party by a solid margin of more than ten percentage points, and though it seems that there is hardly a soul in the nation who thinks things are on the right track, by the start of the conventions John McCain was more or less level with Barack Obama in the opinion polls. There is a genuine chance that, even after almost eight years of George Bush’s calamitous presidency, the voters may actually opt for another stint of Republican administration. In part this reflects the weaknesses that lie alongside the charismatic skills paraded by Mr Obama in Denver this week: his inexperience, especially in foreign affairs, at a time when the world looks more and more complex and troubling, and a certain cerebral aloofness that seems to make it hard for him to connect with Middle America. But a big part of the reason is that, in Mr McCain (see article), the Republicans have rallied round the only candidate who could have saved them.
