A McCain-Clinton Ticket?

Ok, so that's not going to happen, but John McCain didn't at all try to hide his flirtation with Hillary Clinton's supporters who may be, to put it mildly, upset with Barack Obama's victory. Here's some text from McCain's speech last night:

"Senator Clinton has earned great respect for her tenacity and courage. The media often overlooked how compassionately she spoke to the concerns and dreams of millions of Americans, and she deserves a lot more appreciation than she sometimes received. As the father of three daughters, I owe her a debt for inspiring millions of women to believe there is no opportunity in this great country beyond their reach. I am proud to call her my friend. Pundits and party elders have declared that Senator Obama will be my opponent."

In case you missed it, McCain not-so-subtly backed Clinton's claims of a popular vote win with that "pundits and party leaders" line. You'd think that was just posturing until you recall that, according to some Democrats, McCain himself was very close to leaving the GOP just a few short years ago.