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At the McCain appearance I dropped by today, I walked alongside Bob Novak and Phil Gramm as they were chatting about McCain's comeback. (Gramm is one of McCain's "General Co-Chairmen.") "Boy, I'll tell you," said Novak, "Who would have thought, a year ago, that number one, McCain would be in there, and his biggest problem would be Huckabee? Who would have thought that?"

"Well, it tells you you never know," said Gramm. Gramm recalled the low period of McCain's campaign last year: "The odds of him winning the nomination on the betting market in London -- you could bet four and a half cents, you'd get a dollar if he wins." Novak chuckled. "If he makes this it's gonna be one the great political comebacks in the history of this nation," Gramm continued. "Nobody else could have done it, because nobody would have had the ego." I was a bit surprised to hear Gramm put it that way, but it's true: There was a time a few months ago when McCain's campaign was broke, his poll numbers were weak, and some of his advisers (including Gramm himself, if I heard correctly) were telling him to get out of the race, just as Sam Brownback did under similar circumstances. McCain was too proud to quit, and at this point he's got a good shot at winning the nomination. Pretty remarkable.