A regular correspondent:

Don’t you think he risks a lot by moving in any real way to the right? I think he stands to alienate his base (the moderate dems/reps and independents) by pandering to conservatives (a la Romney). He has proven he can win the republican primaries without engaging conservatives. In fact, even when he has tried (Falwell etc..) he has failed. One could make the argument that he will never win over the right and only stands to lose moderate centrist voters in trying. Thoughts?

It depends on how he does it. Assurances on the courts and on his veep–”I’m a conservative Republican and I look forward to running in the fall with a conservative Republican by my side”–would be fairly costless, and could help unify a party that needs unifying. I also think that he could take some steps to make it clear that he is serious about “enforcement first” on immigration while also continuing to insist that he is not going to deport millions of illegal immigrants. Again, however, unifying the party is hardly McCain’s only or most serious challenge.