Final McCain VP speculation thread

Rumor has it that John McCain will officially announce his running mate tomorrow in Ohio. The Republicans will likely leak the news this evening so that Barack Obama’s acceptance speech at Mile High Stadium’s Invesco Field won’t dominate all the media commentary.

Who’s it gonna be?

I still think “Biden crimps McCain’s VP choice.”

My best guess is that McCain will pick Mitt Romney. The downside is that the ticket can be ridiculed as “Rich and Richer,” but the upside is that Romney is seasoned enough to go head-to-head with Biden in a debate. I can’t say the same for other possible choices such as Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal or Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty.

Also, I think I saw one poll suggesting Romney would help McCain in Florida, where recent polls show Obama and McCain within the margin of error.

Some people in the McCain campaign are supposedly pushing for Joe Lieberman to be the running mate. Although he still caucuses with Senate Democrats, he has been campaigning for McCain and using Republican talking points against Obama.

I can’t imagine McCain would dare to pick Lieberman. The beltway media would love the bipartisan-looking ticket, but the Republican base would go ballistic if McCain picked someone pro-choice. Although I don’t like Lieberman, his voting record is solidly Democratic.

The religious right doesn’t even want former Pennsylvania Governor and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge on the ticket, because he is pro-choice. At least Ridge is a lifelong Republican.

Open Left user leshrac55 pointed me toward this Huffington Post article about how Karl Rove has asked Lieberman to withdraw his name as a possible running mate, but Lieberman declined to do so.

(UPDATE: More rumors that McCain  really wants to pick Lieberman.)

I’ve seen no sign that McCain has ever considered Mike Huckabee for VP, but after watching Huckabee on The Colbert Report last night, I’m more convinced than ever that we haven’t heard the last from him. He’ll be running for president in 2012 or 2016 for sure. I disagree with many of his views, but I give Huckabee a lot of credit for praising Michelle Obama’s speech and pointing out the absurdity of conservative pundit spin about Hillary Clinton’s speech.

Also, I don’t recall hearing any Republican besides Huckabee express pride that this country has nominated a black man for president. On Colbert’s show, he said that while he won’t vote for Obama and wouldn’t like to see him become president, he remembers growing up with racism in the deep South, and he’s glad Obama’s race didn’t prevent him from winning the nomination.

I have heard some speculation that McCain will pick a woman, most likely Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison now that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is mired in scandal.

What do you think?

About the Author(s)

desmoinesdem

  • Romney

    I hope it will be Romney. I think that would be the best choice for Obama. I believe that there is only one VP debate and I’m not sure how much people pay attention to those. However, Tim Pawlenty might make Minnesota more reachable for McCain.  

  • My favorite Republican is Mike Huckabee

    Any time a Republican says anything nice about Hillary Clinton, I like him. I think Huckabee is funny and generally a nice guy. I’ve very glad he isn’t going to be president of course, but I feel like I could be friends with him. Back in the primaries, I really considered giving him some money when he started running out, just to try to keep him in the race longer, but I didn’t want to end up on any Republican call lists.  

  • Ohio confuses me...

    McCain’s choice to appear with his veep in Ohio confuses me. Springfield made sense. Obama could have announced anyone in Springfield–where he was in the state legislature for so many years. There is no reason for McCain to announce his veep in Ohio, unless maybe the veep has some connection to the state (or maybe the midwest in general).

    I agree with what you’ve said before, desmoinesdem. McCain is between a rock and a hard place. Most of his possible picks have one glaring weakness or another, and their right wing isn’t going to be nearly as forgiving as our left.

    That said, I’m sticking with Tom Ridge–with John Thune a close second. Pennsylvania is what puts Ridge over the top. McCain desperately needs to win Pennsylvania, and new polls show that Obama is neck-and-neck there. Biden, a native Pennsylvanian and blue-collar firebrand will only make the gap wider. McCain needs someone who can play well in Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio in order to compete with Obama/Biden. Who better than Ridge. The far right will whine, of course, but vote for him all the same. It’s only a little more stink on a ticket they’re already holding their noses for.

    It could have been Romney, until Obama picked Biden and McCain lapsed on his real estate. When McCain started running “look what Biden said about Obama” ads, and Obama started running “look how rich McCain is” ads…Romeny was finished. After all, he’s got more money than God and hates McCain’s guts.

    As for dark-horses…the Ohio connection suggests maybe John Bohener, since Dayton is part of his district. But he’s bogged in scandals. Rob Portman is from Ohio, but is the architect of some of the biggest deficits in history. (Along with our own Jim Nussle…) Dayton is also home to a big military base…maybe McCain is going to stock the crowd with military and announce a general? Tommy Franks comes to mind, or perhaps in a peculiar kind of in absentia pick…David Petraeus, live from Iraq. (–Sorry for the long post, by the way!)

     

    • no one ever has to apologize

      for a long post around here!

      I forgot about Thune. He doesn’t deliver a state, though, and he doesn’t have executive experience.

      Interesting to think about Portman–he has more economic-related knowledge than McCain by a long shot. Republicans never seem to be embarrassed by their own deficits.

      Picking a general would double down on the “you can’t criticize me without denigrating my military service” strategy. Will he go for that? There’s a certain logic to it when you look at how his campaign responds to criticism.

  • Intrade

    I just checked the prediction markets and Romney is at 66 compared to Pawlenty who is the next highest at 14. Apparently the people who actually bet money on those things see Romney as the favorite.  

  • Hutchinson

    Kay is also pro-choice, which would be a disaster for McCain.

    It will almost certainly be Pawlenty.

    I would be surprised if McCain picked Romney, just because he doesn’t like him.

  • I've been guessing Pawlenty for several weeks...

    I’ll stick to my guns, although I fail to see why he would be announcing in Ohio if this is the case.  

    Sticking to my guns is simply for the fun of it, not because I have any stinkin’ clue who it’s going to be.

    • Pawlenty no more

      I was saying Pawlenty until last week.  With Obama’s Biden pick, it seems unlikely.  It takes away some of McCain’s experience claim, especially when one realizes that the odds of McCain’s VP pick actually becoming president are relatively high.

      Fred Thompson would be my dream pick.  I would love for us to run against the grandpa ticket.  Sadly, that is not going to happen.

      I will go ahead and say it will be Tom Ridge.

  • I'm gonna go waaaay out on a limb...

    Condoleezza Rice.

    • make my day

      She had an Exxon tanker named after her.

      Choosing her would confirm that President McCain would in effect serve out Bush’s third term.

Comments