McCain's fall in polls isn't 'regrettable'

There's news that John McCain has termed the Supreme Court's decision in Wisconsin Right to Life v. FEC "regrettable," (TheHill.com - "McCain: 'Regrettable' decision"), but I think the his fall in the polls is neither "regrettable" or "unpredictable." John McCain is not popular with Republicans. He is (was, more accurately) popular with non-Republicans be they f the Democrat or "Independent" variety.

And I enjoyed Mitt Romney's reaction to these events:

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, one of McCain’s main rivals for the GOP nomination, was quick to seize on the decision and made sure that voters knew it was a provision in the Arizona senator’s law that was struck down.

“Score one for free speech,” Romney said. “Today the Supreme Court reaffirmed the First Amendment by rejecting a key feature of McCain-Feingold. The law trampled the basic right of the American people to participate in their democracy. It also purported to reduce the influence of money in politics, but we now know that influence is greater than ever.

“McCain-Feingold was a poorly crafted bill,” Romney added. “Today’s decision restores, in part, to the American people a right critical to their freedom of political participation and expression.”

You KNOW that Romney relished using the name "McCain" in slamming this legislation. As I mentioned below, I spent part of my weekend at an Election Law training in New Orleans, and one of the comments that drew the most laughter during the event was when deputy legal counsel for Romney's campaign (participating in a panel of attorneys working for several of the campaigns) off-handedly referred to "McCain-Feingold" as "McCain-Feingold-Thompson."