McCain: What went wrong?

Now that the campaign is over and a winner has been declared all of that off-the-record good stuff can come out. But, McCain/Palin won't go down without a fight. We've seen Sarah's bizarre airport interview, GOP lawyers flying to Alaska to retrieve Palin's clothes (at a cost that is surely higher than the clothes are worth), and even numerous interviews with McCain and Palin expressly asking, "What went wrong?" as if the two of them would be able to cite exactly what it was, or even tell the truth if they could.

Interestingly, this article from the Daily Kos breaks down exactly what happened in the campaign (and what was eventually, in my opinion, McCain's downfall) months before the events occurred. Unless the writer was blessed with the gift of prophecy, it was clear to many political commentators that, because of McCain's choice of political and campaign advisers, he would run a dirty campaign, much like the one Bush ran against him in 2000. Politics is crawling with sore losers. It's rumored that Bush II ran because Bush I didn't get his second term. Hillary Clinton has been keeping her 2012 (or 2016) hopes very much alive, and Sarah Palin has been doing the same. John McCain tried to run on that "sore loser, just attack until there's no one looking at your politics" platform, and thankfully, it didn't work. This time.