Fred 25, Mitt 20, Rudy 17, and St. John in with a cool eight percent. If this amnesty abortion goes through, we might see him pull within the margin of error of negative numbers. The Times of London quotes Republican “insiders” who see an outside shot at total implosion by fall but, like Captain Ed, I’m skeptical. There’s no incentive not to trudge along until the first primaries in January and take your chances there — unless, perhaps, Petraeus’s progress report in September is so grim, or there’s some horrendous intervening news from Iraq in the meantime, that it would leave McCain with two radioactive signature issues in his lap. At that point, even if you’re sympathetic to him, what’s the point in nominating him? The Democrats will crucify him in the general election.

Elsewhere, Rudy’s off to Pat Robertson U to convince Christian conservatives that Christian conservatism isn’t that important.

Update: There’s no actual news peg here that I could discern. They’re just trying to get the word out early that a guy who’s not in the race yet isn’t exactly a Washington outsider. Which wasn’t much of a secret anyway.