In The Bag

At the beginning of 2010 the emerging threat to John McCain on his right flank looked to be one of the defining stories of the midterm elections, Exhibit A for the Tea Party insurrection against the establishment GOP. But six months later McCain looks to have the GOP nomination all but locked up. Eric Kleefeld takes a look at McCain’s abrupt change of fortune, which can be attributed to several causes — not least of which is that the man spearheading the flanking maneuver was the deeply flawed former Rep. J.D. Hayworth.