It is true that McCain is a bad panderer, but that does not make him a non-panderer.

His problem all along is that he is caught between the stools of "straight talk" (which panders to independents who, unfortunately for him, don't much vote in Republican primaries) and deep conservatism (which panders to those who do vote in Republican primaries).

In this campaign, of course, he has shifted sharply to the second audience. Hence his support for the Iraq war, which is still supported by a (bare) majority of Republicans and was more popular with them when he started his campaign than it is now.

Like Bush, he has misread immigration reform (the difference being that Bush doesn't care because he has no political future): it was meant to broaden the Republican base by allowing socially conservative Hispanics to support the party and to appeal to big business (and important though oft-forgotten Republican power base). The resulting mess has turned off both, but it does not mean McCain was not trying to pander.

(I view campaign finance reform as electorally irrelevant. Only George Will and Fred Wertheimer seem to care one way or the other, and who cares about either of them?)