After victories in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C., John McCain’s frontrunner status is more clearly established than ever before. His unwavering support for the war in Iraq, and for the surge, is the primary reason his once-flatlining campaign revived and prevailed. But McCain’s campaign is not the only Republican campaign that succeeded this year because of the war in Iraq. Yesterday moderate Republican Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD) was defeated for renomination by a primary challenger who based his campaign on the incumbent’s opposition to the war: