McCain’s Potential 2008 Vice Presidential Candidates
Yesterday I wrote that if John McCain is an idiot, which is a possibility, he’ll pick Mike Huckabee as his vice presidential nominee. My reasoning is that Mike Huckabee doesn’t add anything to Republicans in the general election: southerners and evangelicals already live in red states.
But I didn’t say who else McCain might pick. Here are some ideas that McCain might go through as he decides his running mate.
Mitt Romney, fmr. Governor of Massachussetts
Positives: Still has a strong following after ‘08 primaries, would help with conservative vote
Negatives: Probably doesn’t have the best relationship with McCain
Mitt Romney would be a slick and bold pick, considering that I don’t think McCain really likes him all that much. But Romney was on the verge of uniting conservatives against McCain and could represent the right wing of the base McCain needs to attract to win the national election. This would be a shrewd pick, like JFK picking up Texas boy LBJ back in ‘60 to cover for some of his weaknesses.
Charlie Crist, Governor of Florida
Positives: Governor from important electoral state, already helped McCain campaign
Negatives: Won’t exactly be a rallying horn for conservatives to get behind McCain
Crist has already endorsed McCain and they’re already quite chummy. Crist was a key political ally in winning the election as he endorsed McCain at a convenient time before the primary in Florida and has just as much claim to the VPship as anyone else (”hey, I endorsed you too!”). Crist being on the ticket would also bode well for winning Florida in the national campaign.
Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska
Positives: Hot. Conservative.
Negatives: There’s nothing negative about being hot and conservative.
Sarah Palin, a “babe” according to Rush Limbaugh, is a dark horse conservative that could do McCain’s campaign some good: she’d help McCain with gun control groups and other conservative issues while counterpunching the Dems’ potential Minority Express with the possibility of the first female VP.
Mark Sanford, Governor of South Carolina
Positives: Young, very conservative
Negatives: Another “maverick” type that may rub people the wrong way
Mark Sanford has potential, since McCain will have to face questions on his age and Sanford is just 47. He’s the conservative McCain, apparently - he thinks his own state government isn’t conservative enough. In NFL language, he’s got some weird character issues: he once brought two live pigs into the legislature to show how much he hates pork.
Tim Pawlenty, Governor of Minnesota
Positives: Already the co-chair of McCain’s campaign, could swing a traditionally Dem state
Negatives: Used public funds to expand baseball via a stadium for the Minnesota Twins. Baseball’s gay.
Pawlenty gets along with McCain well enough to be the co-chair of his campaign, so there wouldn’t be any Romney issues there. He’s not as conservative as he could be, described as “center-right,” but Minnesota would be a nice pickup for McCain.
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