It appears the Left is getting nervous that John McCain is hanging around in this Presidential race. Look at part of an article posted at The New Republic (TNR) which bemoans the fact Barack Obama has been unable to pull away from McCain:

Last week, for the first time in our history, we had an African American president. Barack Obama posed for pictures with Angela Merkel and toured the skies of Iraq with David Petraeus. Meanwhile, George W. Bush was nowhere to be seen, as if he had already handed over the keys to the White House.

Savor the moment. It might not last.

Despite the ecstatic throngs in Berlin and the impeccable Sderot photo-op, Obama's lead hasn't grown in the polls. In fact, as of this writing, it has actually diminished in some polls of Ohio, Michigan, and Minnesota--and evaporated in Colorado. National polls show McCain hanging within a stunningly small margin. (According to pollster.com's average of all polling, he leads by just 2.5 percent.) What makes this margin so stunning is that nothing has gone right for McCain this past month. Obama has owned the news cycle--a fact that has turned McCain and his advisers into contemptuous whiners, complaining about the media's infatuation with Obama and even belittling their own travelling press corps as the "junior varsity" squad. . . .

Yet, somehow, despite all this, McCain remains in the game. This is not easy to explain--and it should cause a great deal of introspection at Obama headquarters. For all the many ways that the stars have aligned for Obama, he has yet to take full advantage of what historically has been a great opportunity. Of course, we speak of the economy. These are the type of painful times when voters invariably turn to Democrats. So why aren't they turning to Obama in greater numbers? . . .

The model should be Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign, which didn't just relentlessly harp on hard times--it had a clear theory for what caused them. In part, this is a consequence of the prolonged primary season: Obama should have been compiling his general election case many months ago, while he had to contend with Hillary Clinton. And, now, time is growing short. Just because every data point would suggest an Obama victory, doesn't mean that he won't blow it.

What the Liberal Left misses about John McCain is that he is a fighter and not a quitter. He has faced much tougher tests in his life than this Presidential campaign, and he came through with honor and victory. Americans sense that in McCain -- while they may not agree with him on all issues -- they have a man of strength, integrity and character. With Obama, they don't get that same sense. That is why John McCain may end up doing far more than just "hanging around."