An adviser to John McCain recently said that anything that further prolonged the fight between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton was good news. His reasoning was straightforward and mostly correct. As long as the Democrats are intent on punching each other senseless, drawing attention to (and, where possible, exaggerating) each other’s weaknesses, they are doing the larger part of Mr McCain’s job for him, leaving him free to advance his own positive message. As the Democrats’ self-directed anger mounts, Mr McCain can rest on his dignity and float above it all. He starts with considerable centrist appeal. The Democratic brawl can only add to it.

True, but the situation has its risks. For months, Mr McCain has been reduced to irrelevance. Far from getting his message across, his positions have barely registered and are rarely discussed. If it were true that any publicity is good publicity, he would have a serious problem.