Similarly, McCain was leading betting markets for the 2008 GOP nomination at this point 12 years ago, but his campaign completely collapsed in the summer of 2007, and he had no money and had to fly coach, carry his own suitcase, etc.
I wasn't politically aware for 2004, but I vividly remember in '08 how many people had written off McCain's candidacy. It never made much sense to me because he still had decent support in the polls and all of his competitors, except maybe Romney, were deeply flawed. The Kerry/McCain precedent (of a campaign wrongly be left for dead) is definitely worth remembering for the 2020 Democratic primary.
