John McCain needs to run a dynamic campaign. An anemic one will not do. It is yet unclear which sort of campaign his will be.

Now that Barack Obama is to be the Democrat nominee, the November election will be as energized as any Presidential election I've seen since 1988, maybe since 1968. Though BHO is by far the most leftist Democrat nominee since George McGovern, it is exactly his ultra-leftism which gives his campaign its energy (that, and the 9 % of all votes to be cast that his 92 % support among African Americans gives him to begin with). Today in America the ultra-left is well populated with rich, even super-rich liberals who look down upon America, who represent an overseas view of what America should be. This is new. 50 years ago the ultra-left in America was mostly wage-earners. The Viet Nam war began to bring wealthy folks into the ultra-left. Today they dominate this end of the spectrum. They have tons of money to spend and they know supremely well how to network. They also know how to organize. The BHO campaign will be as well-run and as well funded as any ultra-left campaign has ever been, anywhere in the world.

To defeat this tremendous attack upon America frokm the left, John McCain will need to corral, rally, and energize the CENTER. The center is truly up for grabs -- Hillary Cliton's and John Edwards's voters as well as "Mac"'s independents, maybe 30 % of the entire electorate. The center is not only up for grabs, it is the decider in this election. Yet for John McCain to corral, rally, and energize it he will need to do things that so far I have not seen him do more than a little of. These MUST-DO tasks are:

1.Devise, articulate, and be passionate about an economic program which addresses the concerns of working and middle-income families.

This program must include:

(1) aid for homeowners facing foreclosure -- immediate and generous

(2) health care for all Americans on the model of Medicare

(3) raising the minimum wage to $ 9.00 to $ 13.00 an hour

(4) no NEW tax cuts but yes, extend those already in place. John McCain is right that raising taxes in a recession (or near-recession) is a bad idea

(5) priority programs for drilling for new oil and for refining it; for bringing Clean Coal to market; for nuclear energy; and for quickening the market arrival of electric vehicles.

(6) job re-training programs for workers in industries that are in decline or worse.

This program goes against the grain of John McCain's small-government vision. That is a good vision -- but it is not one that American voters will or can accept in the present economic situation.

2.Continue to advocate for an interventionist foreign policy, as he has done so courageously, one significantly unlike that of President Bush, including closing down Guantanamo, abolishing torture-like interrogation techniques, and engaging all the world's democracies in an Alliance of Freedom.

3.Choose a Vice President from outside the Republican Box entirely -- Joe Lieberman, Mike Bloomberg, Robert Rubin, Diane Feinstein, Jim Webb, Carly Fiorina -- even a Democrat Governor like Ed Rendell, Ted Strickland, or Jon Corzine (if they would accept), to make it clear once and for all that John McCain will be the captain of HIS OWN ship, in NO way "The Third Term of George Bush." (I have decided -- changing my mind, yes -- that our guy should leave out Hillary Clinton as a choice, because Bill Clinton simply remains a major liability for her as ANYONE's vice presidential pick.)

Fact is that the Republican party that we have all known is OVER. The "conservatives" have painted themselves into an ideological corner as anal as it is tiny and dubious. The "social conservatives" are simply wrong -- it is NOBODY'S BUSINESS, much less the government's, what sort of lifestyle people choose to live. The Republican establishment, too, badly needs a complete house cleaning, so mouldy is it with bloated lobbyists, jaded influence peddlers, shoddy Congressmen, goofy staffers, and spun-out spin-meisters. It is time to FUMIGATE this swarm of locusts!! Time to bring in a new generation of freedom-loving, networking, innovative Republicans and independents and create an entirely new Republican coalition -- including IMMIGRANTS, yes -- that resembles the old Republican party about as much as a fish resembles a bicycle.

John McCain can do this. It is in his very gut to do this. He is his own man, and he needs to be exactly that. The more his own man he is, the more money he will raise, the more voters he will have at his back.

Lastly, he needs to ORGANIZE, ORGANIZE, ORGANIZE. Again, with HIS OWN volunteers, and NOT the Usual Republican Suspects!