While his eminence and Bill Kristol debate whether or not John McCain should make a serious play in the Iowa Republican caucus, the media already seem to have decided the issue for the Arizona senator. Here's the Times's Adam Nagourney:
[McCain's] problems in Iowa do not stem from a lack of effort. Mr. McCain has spent 36 days campaigning in Iowa, according to figures compiled by the Iowa Democratic Party. Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, spent 57 days in the state while Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, campaigned 58 days in Iowa. Mr. McCain's initial decision to present himself as a more conservative candidate than he did in 2000 - and repairing his relationships with conservative leaders like Jerry Falwell - was in no small part aimed at winning Iowa this time. Mr. McCain blames his problems in Iowa on illegal immigration. "It wasn't our financial problems that caused our drop in the polls," he said aboard his bus two weeks ago, in what could well turn out to be one of his final trips as a presidential candidate to Iowa. "It was immigration. At our town hall last night, there were elderly women who were literally shaking when they talked about it." There certainly is some merit to Mr. McCain's contention. There is no issue of greater concern to Iowa Republicans than illegal immigration, the Times/CBS News poll found, and Mr. McCain was identified with the effort in Washington to pass legislation that would have, among other things, provided a road for some illegal immigrants to citizenship.
Nagourney and McCain may believe immigration has either seriously weakened (in McCain's view) or doomed (in what appears to be Nagourney's view) the senator's chances in Iowa. My understanding, however, is that the question of what McCain plans to do in Iowa remains undecided.