Sen. John McCain, the straight-talking Republican who often challenges the GOP establishment, has taken on a headline-grabbing issue steroids in baseball and generated talk of a presidential bid in 2008. Amid revelations about baseball’s biggest names, McCain has threatened to push legislation early next year if Major League Baseball and the players do not clean up their act. McCain long has advocated harsher penalties for athletes caught using performance-enhancing drugs.

The three-term senator from Arizona has earned a reputation as a go-to lawmaker, tackling campaign finance, the war on Iraq, federal spending and climate change. It’s little wonder that his foray into the baseball scandal has revived Republican speculation about McCain and the 2008 presidential race. Even though President Bush has yet to take the oath of office for a second term, other names that have surfaced as possible GOP candidates in 2008 include Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee; Sens. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, George Allen of Virginia and Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania; former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, and Govs. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts and George Pataki of New York. “The big question is: Can McCain get any hotter?” said Scott Reed, a Republican consultant.

The talk is coming from outside the Washington Beltway, too. “He’s pretty well set to go in four years,” said Jerry Roe, a former head of the Michigan Republican Party. “Politicians that go anyplace are like rock stars. McCain’s a rock star.”

Shocking. I still think he’s too old to be a credible candidate.