McCain was ready to ditch GOP in 2001

Well before John Kerry’s attempt to make McCain his running mate on the 2004 Democratic presidential ticket, the Schmuck Talk Express™ was “open,” at least, to changing parties.

This was all going down shortly before Vermont’s Jim Jeffords became an independent, over multiple White House snubs, and allowed Dems a clear Senate majority by caucusing with them.

Here’s the poop:

In interviews with The Hill this month, former Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) and ex-Rep. Tom Downey (D-N.Y.) said there were nearly two months of talks with the maverick lawmaker following an approach by John Weaver, McCain’s chief political strategist. …

McCain consistently shot down the rumors, though Weaver acknowledged this week that the senator did talk to Democrats about leaving the GOP. …

In one article, Marshall Wittman, a McCain loyalist and strategist six years ago, put the odds of McCain leaving the Republican Party at “50-50.”

Former Senate Majority Leader Daschle says McCain was, at times, just as close to leaving the GOP as Jeffords.

This will certainly get play in these last days before the Super Tuesday primaries; in the majority of states that are closed primaries on the GOP side, it’s Mitt Romney’s last best shot at stopping McCain.

Oh, and McCain’s repeated denials of the issue continue to belie his moniker of “Straight Talk Express.”