So I’m sitting here blogging and the phone rings. It’s none other than Senator John McCain, asking for my vote.

McCAIN: Hi, this is Senator John McCain and I’m calling today to personally ask for your vote and to make a pledge to you. As your president, I promise to lead our nation and our party as a Ronald Reagan conservative. I’ll lower your taxes, veto wasteful government spending and ensure our party returns to the smaller government principles on which it began. I’ll secure our border first before pursuing any other immigration reform. I’ll appoint conservative judges, like Justices Alito and Roberts. I will protect the sanctity of life and have a 24 year record to prove it. This is my commitment to you. As you go to the polls, consider our greatest challenge as a nation is to defeat the relentless enemy of radical Islamic extremists. My life experience has prepared me better than any other candidate to defeat this enemy. We can and will win this war. Again this is John McCain and I humbly ask you to vote for me.

I’ve come to post this not to bash McCain, but to praise him. If this call was my first introduction to John McCain, I’d vote for him in a heartbeat. It’s not my first intro to McCain so I’m still voting for Romney, but it’s a well-done call that hits all the right notes. I’m choosing not to dwell on the “any other immigration reform” line, of course. The rest is very good. I’m sure that for millions of Republican voters on Tuesday, this call or something like it sealed the deal.

Update: Mona Charen got the call and noticed what McCain does and doesn’t say in it.

Nary a word about global warming or Guantanamo. He “humbly” asks for our votes. If this is a hint of what is coming at CPAC, it suggests that McCain’s famous vanity is not getting the better of him this time. He seems to be willing to meet conservatives more than halfway.