John McCain has one major problem: conservatives don’t tend to like him, and especially conservative activists aren’t too thrilled with the prospect of him being the Republican nominee. The Washington Post takes a closer look at some of the Senator’s enemies today, and it’s quite an interesting read: basically, what makes McCain so popular among independents and moderate Republicans is what also makes him hated, in some cases, by the Republican establishment / conservative activists.

What’s clear from the article is that McCain has to hope that conservatives will remain divided for a long time. At the moment that they rally around one candidate, say Thompson or Romney, he has a major problem. When that happens they’ll turn against McCain on a grand scale. If, on the other hand, the race for the Republican nomination remains a three or even four-men race, McCain’s got a chance.

And then he has to hope that if he’s the favorite, conservative Republicans will hold their nose and support him (people vote for winners). That could very well happen, but it could also very well be that conservative Republicans will turn to one other candidate en masse.

It continues to fascinate me though that the very issues that make McCain popular among Independents and moderate Republicans are the same issues that make conservative activists oppose his candidacy… and very passionately so.

Also be sure to read this post at TIME. Jay Cost explains that he’s not quite ready to jump on the McCain bandwagon because the problem that almost cost McCain’s candidacy / campaign to collapse last year “still exists:” “Conservative leaders do not care for his candidacy.”

Jay goes on to write that he sees “two potential problems”:

1. “he might be criticized more harshly than a mainstream conservative candidate would.”

2. “I do not think that McCain can end the nomination battle with wins in Michigan and South Carolina. Because conservative leaders dislike him, I think they might ‘rediscover’ a viable alternative to him.”

O, and conservative commentators don’t like his views on the Israel / Palestine conflict either.