If this report is accurate, and John McCain intends to set out a reform agenda and theme modeled on Yuval Levin’s recent piece, it is good news indeed for conservatives and his supporters more generally. I have not been alone in observing that McCain needs a unifying theme, a counterpoint to “Change.” A market-based, reform-minded vision which sets himself apart from the Bush administration and offers an alternative to Obama’s warmed-over liberalism would be welcomed by many conservatives. And it might appeal to many independents. (There was a guy named Clinton who once talked about ” a third way.”)

This may be a positive development for a broader reason. There has been a growing sense among many conservatives that McCain was hell-bent on running on his biography, that his campaign was not open to the diverse voices offering some intellectual grounding for his campaign. (William F. Buckley, Jr. in his final book recounts the tale of how Barry Goldwater locked the conservative intellectuals of his day out of the campaign and ran a much worse campaign than necessary as a result.) If he and his campaign are indeed “listening” to those outside his loyal band of campaign advisors, that fear may be lessened, and the campaign many benefit from the diverse and very smart voices (like Levin’s) outside of the campaign.