With only the slighest acknowledgment that Hillary Clinton is still running, John McCain is beginning his general election race against Barack Obama. He was in fighting form today, using Obama’s shifting position on public campaign financing to suggest Obama is practicing Washington “doublespeak” and not keeping his committments. He again labeled Obama as naive on foreign policy. In the category of politics making strange bedfellows, he will be getting some help from Clinton, who seems determined to help point out Obama’s weaknesses, especially his lack of fitness to be commander-in-chief. (Although Clinton’s effort is likely to fail, that does not indicate that the commander-in-chief theme won’t be successful in a general election context when marshalled by someone who actually does have foreign policy experience.)

After all the talk that Mike Huckabee was an ongoing irritant to McCain while the “spirited” Democratic race would keep interest high, the reverse may end up being true. The Democratic race is now looking a little less productive for the eventual nominee, while Huckabee’s presence at least gets McCain cable news coverage of his primary victory speech.