In November 2007 I traveled around western Iowa with Sen. John McCain as he tried to claw his way back into the 2008 Republican presidential primary race. McCain’s campaign had famously melted down a few months earlier, sending him plunging in the polls. Things didn’t look good.

As we rode in a battered minivan, I asked McCain about his troubles, mainly campaign money problems and then the fallout from his stand in favor of immigration reform. Which was worse? I asked. McCain answered quickly: Immigration.