John McCain's unwillingness to provide a straight answer to Janet Hooks question at Wednesday's debate was revealing. When asked if he would vote for the bill that he had previously championed, McCain equivocated, refusing to provide a clear yes or no answer. His dilemma is obvious. If he says yes, he's for AMNESTY. If he says no, he's a Romney-like flip flopper. But to avoid either of those traps, he must act like a slippery politician who refuses to engage in "straight talk."

While this exchange provided a good measure of schadenfreude, the broader implications are that McCain's nomination might greatly reduce the GOP's ability to use immigration as a wedge issue in the presidential campaign. When McCain has been all but counted out, many assumed that immigration would be the one national issue that might play to the GOP's advantage. Now it appears that even that may be gone.