Sen. John McCain may not be your best bet

It's getting really hard for the Republican punters these days, first Giuliani goes up in scandals, now more bad news from the Sen. John McCain campaign.

Sen. John McCain may not be your best bet If you plan to wager on the 2008 Presidential Elections, here is another Republican candidate we are putting on notice - Sen. John McCain.

McCain used to be one of the favorite among the Republicans to win the Elections, but the truck full of bad news keeps on rolling for the candidate. What is turning the wheel of his campaign around?

With the Republican Party taking a stance against the Iraq war, McCain continues to support the president and the war itself. Strolling around the markets of Bagdad (with bulletproof vest and heavy security) gave McCain a little boost in the odds, although that was during the time of "cut-and-run". But according to the latest Gallup poll on the war - 62% of the Americans now believe that sending troops in Iraq was a mistake (click here to see the full analysis and poll results). Compared with 61% of the US citizens against sending troops in Vietnam in 1971. Yet on Tuesday, Sen. John McCain went to the floor of the Senate to defend President Bush's Iraq policy. When you run for president, you should at least pretend to listen to your people. In his defense, however, it would be hard to justify a "flip-flop" in his opinion. Still, supporting the Iraq war is not a good card to play during the Presidential Race.

Money is running short at the McCain camp. After raising only $11.2 million in the second quarter, John McCain was left with only $2 million in cash on hand. Not a good sign, when compared to the $30 million other presidential candidates cashed in during the Q2.

Which leads to the last and biggest blow to his campaign - also on Tuesday, two of John McCain top aides left his campaign. Manager Terry Nelson and chief strategist John Weaver are no longer working for John McCain. How bad is this? Well, some comment on the lost of Weaver: "It's like Bush losing Rove." The shortage in contributions, tied together with accusations of disastrous spending decisions, pushed Terry Nelson to offer his resignation. John Weaver insisted on Nelson continuing with the campaign, but frictions among the top aides in the McCain camp doubled the damage. Now both aides are out of the game, and there are rumors that another top adviser will be leaving John McCain.

The betting odds on John McCain are also stepping down. According to the oddsmaker Bodog Sports, John McCain now has the odds of 16/1 to win the 2008 Presidential Elections. Odds on McCain are even worse than Al Gore (13/1), who is not even running for president (yet). Even Mike Bloomberg, also not officially running, now has the odds of 15/1, thus with better chances of winning, than the actual candidate.

The odds on John McCain for being chosen as the Republican Candidate for the 2008 Elections, have also taken a nose-down dive. The bookmaker offers 5/1 on McCain, now forth in line, surpassed by Giuliani (3/2), Fred Thompson (2/1), and Mitt Romney - 4/1.

Bookmark OGPaper.com for the latest news and in-depth analysis of the biggest betting event of 2008 - The Presidential Elections.

Published on 07/11/2007