“He’s not in a good place,” says a top Republican operative. “He’s so peripheral at this point, he’s really gotta get himself back in the middle of things. He better do something; he better do something big, and he better do it quick, or this whole thing is just gonna pass him by.”…

McCain’s victory in particular was the product of a carefully engineered political rebound. By July of 2007, the senator, once considered the party’s front-runner, had tumbled to fourth place in national polls, behind even former Tennessee senator Fred Thompson. The immigration legislation he had backed in the Senate had imploded. Anemic fundraising and staff infighting led to the layoffs and resignations of nearly half his campaign staff. Somebody predicted his presidential aspirations would end with him driving the Straight Talk Express himself.

McCain was, in the words of his own campaign, “living off the land,” and focused single-mindedly on campaigning in New Hampshire. Though he was heavily outspent, he compensated by connecting with voters, riding his Straight Talk Express to every nook and cranny of the state to persuade, cajole, and charm them. The coalition he assembled to win the state is one the Christie team is surely aware of. McCain actually lost among Republican voters in New Hampshire, who went for Romney by a point, 35 to 34 percent. His victory came at the hands of independents, whose votes he won by a 13-point margin, 40 to 27 percent.