Despite recent questions about his vote attendance the only big “winner” this week was Sen. John McCain. The senator had basically imploded up until now and seemed to be on the wrong side of every issue, on the low end of fundraising and heading out the door in polling. Somehow though he turned things around this week.

Part of that was because he turned up the heat on his opponents. He attacked Mitt Romney pretty heavily, attacked Sen. Clinton & Obama and he even blew up on the floor of the Senate attacking one of his own Republican colleagues who had pointed out his lackluster voting record. It was a reminder of the old calls of his “temper” getting the best of him BUT it was McCain doing something after months of him doing almost nothing.

Will this surge last? Probably not. Like the surge in Iraq it is a temporary solution to an otherwise longterm set of problems, but it was a good reminder that if he wants to be the Senate is a force to be reckoned with.

Losing momentum this week were Sen. Clinton & Obama who, as mentioned above, took a pounding over their votes against the minimum wage increase and Iraq funding. Both Senators waited until the very last minute to vote so they could ensure it would pass. Then they cast their votes (the two last in line) against the thing. It was an obvious play to the far left and personally I don’t see how it helps them in the long-run.

It was a very “i voted for it before I voted against it” move. Republicans will point out both of them voted against funding the troops and completing the mission in Iraq. Both will respond that they knew the vote would win no matter what their votes were. “So you would have voted for it had there not been a majority” I can hear someone saying and then just chaos ensuing from that point on.

In addition they are now on record voting against a minimum wage increase. They could have campaigned to voters saying they did too things, funded the troops and funded the American worker. Now they lost both and give themselves wide room to fumble when asked about it. Not smart.