IN 2007, much of America’s political oxygen was consumed by the two I-words: Iraq and immigration. If the former was supposed to boost John McCain’s GOP primary campaign, the latter was supposed to torpedo it. Not only did the Arizona senator favor a relatively liberal immigration policy, he had cosponsored legislation with left-wing lion Ted Kennedy to establish a temporary worker program and offer millions of illegal immigrants a path to citizenship. In the summer of 2005, the cover of National Review had assailed McCain as “Amnesty John.” In the late spring and early summer of 2007, McCain supported a comprehensive immigration reform bill that provoked furious opposition from conservative talk radio and the Republican base. It nearly destroyed his presidential bid.

But McCain survived the immigration debate and eventually climbed back into the race. He won the New Hampshire primary, and now he has triumphed in one of the most conservative states in the Union.