Senator John Warner to back Senator John McCain for President

Via The Richmond Times Dispatch:

Warner's endorsement -- should McCain decide to seek the presidency -- was in a statement dated today from McCain's exploratory campaign, obtained by The Times-Dispatch.

The Virginian's move brings McCain support from a respected Southern Republican who has allied with McCain on a number of defense issues but differed with him on President Bush's Iraq troop buildup. Warner drafted a bipartisan resolution opposing the buildup. McCain supports the added troops.

"The endorsement helps McCain because of Warner's stature on military issues, and McCain is struggling to regain his credibility for leadership on the Iraq war," said political scientist Mark Rozell of George Mason University.

"That Warner has moved in a different direction on the military buildup actually may be an asset since observers may conclude that he sees enough value overall in a McCain candidacy to put aside that very important difference," Rozell said.

While it may come as a bit of a surprise that Warner is A) endorsing so early, and B) passing over former Virginia Governor Jim 'fiscal disaster' Gilmore - I'm going to speculate that he may have chosen McCain over Gilmore because Gilmore has almost no shot of getting the Republican nomination. On top of that - Warner and McCain have had a long-standing friendship, and are arguably two of the most two-faced, flip flopping Senators serving today - so other than the fact that Warner may have overlooked Gilmore, this really doesn't come as that much of a shock.

Thoughts?