That being said, this primary season stands as the rare exception.

With most of the deadweight finally cut away, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee notwithstanding, we’re left with the most eclectic front-runner lineup in a long time.

There’s a black senator and a female senator, a Republican who makes other Republicans want to hit their heads on something and a Mormon, though former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s continued existence in the race is more a result of pumping millions into his campaign than any real qualifications.

While the Democratic front-runners who are forcing Americans to get over their mental baggage of having a female or black president is interesting enough, the more compelling story falls on the Republican side of the aisle.

It’s a testament to how lackluster the Republican candidates were this primary season and how badly voters want a change in direction for the country that Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. — the proverbial black sheep and underdog of the Republican Party — managed to snag the coveted front-runner position with his win in the Florida Republican primary last Tuesday.

Considering McCain’s track record with other Republicans, it’s certainly a surprise — McCain is only marginally behind former presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani in stances that make the conservative establishment cringe.

He’s broken from party ranks numerous times on, among other issues, the use of torture, global warming and immigration, making him despised by a large chunk of the conservative movement. As crazy as it might sound, though, that’s why a McCain-led Republican Party is good news.

Outside of ridiculous proposals, horrible campaigning skills and a generally weak grasp on reality, the other Republican candidates suffered from a reluctance to break away from conservative conventional wisdom, which filled much of the campaign with the pandering that said voters looking for change were trying to avoid.

After eight years, numerous Republicans are tired of the same problems being repeated ad nauseam and as the results from the Republican-only Florida primary showed, they’re turning to McCain in droves.

McCain is certainly not immune to the pitfalls of pandering. The Straight Talk Express’s detours in early 2007 for photo ops with the Rev. Jerry Falwell, who he called one of the “agents of intolerance” during the 2000 election cycle. And in Baghdad he hurt his appeal with supporters on both sides of the political aisle, who thought he had sold out to the opposite side.

McCain’s work since then has done much to repair that snafu, and it underlines his biggest asset as a candidate. McCain is one of the few figures within the Republican Party who has a history of reaching across the aisle and standing up for his beliefs, whether for his work with Democrats on campaign finance reform and immigration reform, or being one of the first Republicans to openly criticize the war in Iraq, which helps immensely with his credibility among moderate Democrats and Republicans.

Going into Super Tuesday, McCain has a significant lead against Romney. A recent Monmouth University/Gannett New Jersey poll has McCain leading Romney by 22 percent.

On top of this, Romney also has to contend with Huckabee, as they both fight for the social conservative block of voters President Bush previously held. Unless one clearly manages to take down the other, it’s likely they’ll split the conservative vote enough for McCain to pick up the nomination.

Given the precedent of the soon-to-be previous administration, it’s easy to see that Americans want a new approach to their government. They want a government that works, and for those going to the Republican side, McCain looks to be the best man for the job.

Eric Chiu is a State News staff writer. Reach him at chiueric@msu.edu.