John McCain is Back!

John McCain's has comeback in New Hampshire, although Saturday's debate performance leaves a little room for doubt, according to Ron Claiborne from ABC News:

These are suddenly very good times for John McCain.

A WMUR poll taken over the weekend put him six percentage points up on former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in New Hampshire. He is drawing large, enthusiastic crowds at almost every campaign stop.

And that was before the ABC News/Facebook debate where Romney appeared to be rattled by a barrage of attacks from McCain and his other opponents. That was before the storyline of Sunday's coverage of the Republicans became Romney's denial in the debate that he was running television ads saying McCain favored "amnesty" for illegal immigrants when, in fact, he has two such ads.

McCain had been cautious about saying how he will do in the New Hampshire primary, but he has tossed more and more of that caution aside in recent days. Talking to reporters after the event in Peterborough, he allowed that "maybe we've caught some lightening in a bottle ... Maybe a sparkle."

By Sunday, he'd become even bolder.

"Frankly," he said in Salem, N.H., "we're winning this campaign."

That's probably because the McCain camp thinks he got the better of Romney in the debate Saturday.

For days, McCain aides had been viewing the debate as a chance to retaliate against Romney for the ads attacking McCain on immigration, an issue on which he is considered vulnerable. McCain had considered launching his own ads in response, but decided to hold fire.

His camp was concerned he would get dragged into a mud-slinging air war that could tarnish him as much as help. His team figured the debate and a candidate forum on Sunday would drive the news cycle anyway right up until primary day on Tuesday.

So, instead, he decided he would respond during the debate if given an opening. That opening came when he was asked if he still supported the legislation that he sponsored earlier this year that would have created a path for most of the nation's estimated 12 million illegal immigrants to become citizens. The McCain-Kennedy bill died in Congress.

McCain replied, "Sure, but..." and then gave his now standard line about how he would secure the borders first, and then deal with those illegal immigrants now in the country.

Romney pounced. "I disagree fundamentally that the 12 million people who come here illegally should be allowed to stay here permanently," he said. "I think that is a form of amnesty and that's not appropriate."

McCain said his plan did not provide for "amnesty."

"You can spend your whole fortune on attack ads and it still won't be true," he said.

During the tense exchange that followed, Romney said, "I don't describe your plan as amnesty in my ad. I don't call it amnesty."

McCain missed the opportunity then to point out that that's exactly what Romney's ads were saying, albeit coming out of the mouths of what Romney's campaign said were New Hampshire citizens. But McCain's spinners in the post-debate spin room were all over it. One of his closest advisors, Mark Salter, usually a pretty unflappable guy, was red-faced with outrage.

This "missed opportunity" has created doubts for a McCain slam-dunk tomorrow. "Has John McCain’s window closed as quickly as it opened?," asks the New York Times.

Joe Klein thinks so, but check out Ross Douthat's take on things:

I still expect McCain to win New Hampshire; I can't imagine that four days of campaigning, even with two debates crammed in, will be enough time for Romney to shift the polls back into his favor. But I think McCain had an opportunity, with Romney hurt by Iowa, Huckabee hurt by being Huckabee, and Thompson and Rudy seemingly out of the running, to seize the mantle of GOP frontrunner this week, and consign Romney's campaign to near-oblivion. After watching the debates, which highlighted McCain's weaknesses as a candidate for the Republican nomination rather than his strengths, I don't think that's going to happen. Even if McCain takes New Hampshire, I don't think this race will be any less wide-open going into Michigan and South Carolina than it is today.

I think it's simply time to lay back and let events unfold.

Perhaps McCain missed an opportunity during the debates. The truth is the momentum coming out of Iowa accrued to McCain, not Huckabee, the GOP's winner, and not Romney, who had campaigned in the Hawkeye State for a year.

McCain pulled something from providence to alight his campaign at the last minute. An 11th-hour Romney counter-surge in New Hampshire is probably a little late to shift the tide back in his favor.

One thing's for sure: If McCain doesn't win tomorrow, he's as good as done. He's staked his campaign's viability on a win in New Hampshire. A loss would be a traumatic let-down. He could continue to campaign until February 5, but the bright lights will have faded, and the Straight Talk Express will have seen better days.

McCain backers can bolster their hopes with the latest FOX News/Opinion Dynamics poll, which shows the Arizona Senator holding a substantial lead over Mitt Romney as of Sunday.

Can the dynamics change in one day? We'll see. Check back in the morning for updates on the latest buzz out of New Hampshire!

Photo Credit: Time