The Times reports that Republican consultants predict that John McCain will drop out of the race in September, if his poll numbers have not gone up by then and if his fundraising dries up (which they seem to consider a very real possibility).

Such a move would not truly surprise me – I have to say. McCain has – in my opinion – simply no real chance of winning the Republican nomination. The conservative base seems to detest him, and more moderate Republicans feel betrayed by McCain’s decision early on in he campaign, to court the conservative / even the religious right.

The last nail in his coffin was the immigration bill. Before that we had McCain-Feingold which did not make him popular among Republicans either. McCain is an honorable, respectable man, a hero even, but he is not popular enough to win the Republican nomination.

Ed Morrissey meanwhile writes that he would not bet on it. Well, I am not taking any bets either, but I do consider it to be a very real possibility. The notion that he will not drop out, because there are candidates with even less support still in the race, is a logical fallacy. McCain is in this thing to win; Tancredo, Hunter, Paul etc. have no chance whatsoever and they knew that going in. They have other goals.

McCain, however, has one goal, and one goal only: to become America’s next President. If that is impossible, it seems quite likely to me that he will quit the race well before the finishline.