Does McCain Need A Unity Ticket?

I noticed this last night as well. In the last three races, John McCain has received 77%, 73% and 73% of the vote, which would be great numbers if he were actually running against someone, but not considering he's the presumptive nominee. Fully a quarter of the Republican base is voting for someone else, which is as close to "Anyone But McCain" as you can get.

In a weak moment last night, I had Fox News on, and Mort Kondracke actually brought this up. Fred Barnes essentially shrugged it off by saying "it's a free vote". But isn't this an indication that a chunk of the Republican base is going to stay home in November? I think it is. If they were inclined to vote for a Democrat they may have shifted their party registration. That they're voting for Huckabee or Paul or Romney (yes, 20,000 Republicans in Indiana went for Mittens) suggests they just won't come out for a McCain ticket. Or maybe they'll write in somebody else - like McCain himself reportedly did in 2000.

Not much gnashing of teeth on the news nets about this, but I consider it to be significant given the close races we've had the last two Presidential elections.

...oh yeah, and McCain is lying about the Democrats' health care plans.