Still much to do before November

For John Sidney McCain III it's all over bar the shouting. He has achieved the nomination of the Republican Party. So in the first week of September, in the Republican National Convention, among cheering supporters he will be anointed the party's candidate for the next president of the US.

It could be expected that he can relax between now and the presidential elections in November, but that could be a false perception. It is true to say that he has not got all Republicans behind him as all are not totally convinced of his political persuasions.

This may be due to McCain's voting history and some of his comments in which he has shown distinctly liberal tendencies.

Doubtless Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Hussain Obama wish they could be in a similar position, but as events over the past two days have shown, Hillary, like her husband Bill, cannot be written off just yet. It was, after all, Bill Clinton who "came from nowhere" and succeeded in winning the presidency despite people having written him off several times.

Not for nothing did he become known as the "Comeback Kid" and already the US media are sharpening their pencils with a similar sobriquet for Hillary.

But amongst all this is a spoiler - the Arab-speaking descendant of Lebanese parents, who will again stand as an independent and again be viewed suspiciously by the influential Jewish vote.

The last time he stood, all Ralph Nader achieved was a split vote, taking mostly from the Democrats, thereby virtually ensuring a win for the Republican Party and George W. Bush. Many pundits think he is likely to do the same again, but others say with voters undecided about McCain and unhappy with Bush, it is more likely to go to the Democrats.