Sometimes, the Republican party picks a nominee when it’s that nominee’s turn. The person has to be vetted out by a round or two in the presidential race. Ronald Reagan got the nomination in 1980 after losing it in 1976; George H. W. Bush earned the nomination in 1988 after losing it in 1980. Bob Dole was the GOP nominee in 1996 after losing in 1988. We don’t yet know if John McCain is going to the general election, but after the free-for-all of the Republican race so far, a sense of coalescence has set in with his victory in South Carolina.

There are clues to be read amongst pundits and GOP officials that McCain’s failings as a conservative ideologue are no longer of primary importance to his detractors and that his strengths as a leader may be have come center-stage. Recent editorials have tried to deflate any conservative expectations that a great Reagan purist will come to save the party, and McCain is steadily garnering the noticeable support of the top Republican establishment. Something has been conferred upon John McCain that feels unlike any of the “surges” or “moments” of the Democratic frontrunners. It just may be his turn.