Maverick May Return to the Party Fringes

John McCain is set to be a bystander in the Republican soul searching, which was already under way yesterday, into how the party lost and how it might rebuild itself for the next election. The party's predominantly right-wing rump does not regard McCain, with his championing of bipartisan politics, as one of their own.

George Bush, speaking outside the White House yesterday, paid tribute to the Republican senator for years of service to the US, predicting he would "continue to make tremendous contributions".

But for McCain, the question is what kind of contribution. It is hard to imagine him thinking of standing again, in 2012, given that the party's conservative wing did not want him in the first place, and that he would face competition from rightwingers such as Mitt Romney, and almost certainly Sarah Palin.

A more immediate question is whether he will even stand again for the Senate in 2010. By then he will be 74. Yet it is difficult to imagine his abandoning Washington for Arizona and a quiet life with his wife, Cindy. The election campaign did not dim his passion, that of foreign affairs, and he can use a place on Senate committee as a platform to push his views, such as a gradual withdrawal from Iraq.

Obama has hinted at a bipartisan approach to politics - but it is hard to see a place for McCain. He could vote with the Democrats party on some legislative issues; it is inconceivable he would support Obama in some health reforms, but he might back reform of immigration law, in defiance of his own party.

McCain's ambition has always been greater than being leader of the moderate wing of the Republican party. He is used to bucking his own party, when it suits him. He has a reputation for being unpredictable, irascible - and there is no reason to expect any of that will have been tempered by losing the election.