This Alito issue is important. The John Fund piece that raised it is excellent, but there one thing I find odd about it. Fund looks to McCain’s appearance before CPAC on February 7, just two days after Super Tuesday, as a key moment of testing for McCain’s relationship to conservatives. Two days after Super Tuesday? I don’t think we have that long. Super Tuesday is too…well, super, to allow us to wait.

McCain has got to explain himself to conservatives now, on Alito for sure, and on much else as well. While I’m unquestionably concerned about what a McCain nomination might mean for the Republican coalition, I’m not one of those who feels it would necessarily be disastrous. On the contrary, I can see scenarios where McCain and conservatives could patch things up rather well. But this Alito thing is serious. It bugs me, and I need to know more, quickly. McCain needs to forthrightly address conservatives concerns on this and other issues, and he needs to do it before Super Tuesday (and after).