Handicapping the McCain Veep Choice
The bottom line is that McCain has no good choices. He’s got multi-millionaires and billionaires, but that isn’t going to sway blue collar workers. He’s got a few choices without credibility with the religious right wing whack jobs. The likely choice, in my book, is Mitt Romney, but he’s a bad choice politically for several reasons.
Given the warnings he’s heard about naming a pro choice Vice President, McCain might seem to be in a box. Given McCain’s clear weakness on the economy, McCain might seem to want to go another direction. Given Obama’s choice of Biden, maybe he’ll want a fighter or something. Given the historic nature of Obama’s campaign, and Hillary Clinton’s historic race as well, might McCain go for a woman? Hey, and if McCain has trouble remembering how many homes he own, maybe he’ll pay attention to whether his Veep is a man or woman of the people. Of course, McCain would be wise not to choose someone who is too closely identified with Bush, right? And maybe he’ll want to work a regional strategy? Of course, McCain will renew his maverick status if he chooses a running mate who is a surprise to everyone. Hey, there’s enough criteria here to go around.
McCain is revealing his choice early tomorrow, after all, to try and steal the thunder from Barack Obama. Hey, maybe that’s the only criteria McCain has in mind. Let the handicapping begin, alphabetically. Here are the frontrunners:
Let’s get this one over quickly. Rudy is pro-choice. He’s had a very messy marital life. Heck, isn’t he still estranged from some of his children? But Democrats might like this choice, a marriage between “a noun, a verb, and 9/11″ to “a noun, a verb, and POW.” Joe Biden would have a field day. No, the nomination of Biden puts Guiliani out of this race, doesn’t it?
She’s a career politician, and is a Washington insider, serving in leadership positions in the Republican Party. She’s from Texas, a state McCain can likely count on, and a state that makes everyone think of George Bush. She is a divorcee, but big on the pro-life issue, though I’m not convinced the Christian right is ready for a woman to step forward, no matter her politics. And Kay Bailey Hutchinson has a rating of ZERO by the League of Conservation Voters. If we think McCain is in the pocket of big oil, Hutchinson as a Veep would confirm that. No, Hutchinson as a candidate may appeal as a woman, and she may have credibility with the Christian right, but she’s too identified with Bush and she won’t attract independent voters. Lisa Schiffren at NRO doesn’t seem to care for Hutchinson either, though it is hard for me to consider her “moderate.”
Pawlenty is young, and he’s not a rich fat cat. That’s in his favor. There’s no indication he’ll be able to deliver his own state, however, and there’s nobody out there with the opinion that Pawlenty will make a good campaigner. Sure, he’s been in the mix for a while, and he hits all the social conservative buttons, but I’m thinking he also doesn’t have the big name McCain needs. Rod Dreher, of CrunchyCon, is decidedly underwhelmed with Pawlenty. Hey, I wouldn’t pick Pawlenty, but there’s a bit of precedent for the Chair of the Presidential candidate’s Veep exploratory committee taking the job himself. Gee, how did that work out?
Tomney’s got cred on the street, Wall Street, but he’s a suspect almost everywhere else. The hardcore Evangelicals think he’s a waffler on their social issues, and besides, he’s a Mormon and there’s a whole bunch of the Republican base that is suspicious of the Mormon religion. Seems Rudy, at least, is hinting that Romney might be McCain’s pick, even though Romney just might not know how many homes he owns, either. Democrats would be salivating at facing two men worth hundreds of millions of dollars between them.
Meg Whitman has almost zero name recognition nationwide, except for the fact that she headed EBay. She is tight with Romney, having worked at Bain Capital. But what does she stand for? Man, I guess you could get the media all hyped up trying to introduce her to America, but I think they’ll have even more troubles selling her to the average Joes in America, being that she’s worth well over a BILLION dollars. If she can’t also sell herself with a long adn sterling record on the red meat social issues, then I don’t see where her positives beat her negatives. Get this, her husband is named Griffith Rutherford Harsh IV. That just doesn’t sound like a name that everyday folks in Ohio or Pennsylvania are going to embrace. Still, there’s at least one report out there that Whitman is McCain’s choice.
Who else do we have here? Carly Fiorini made a gaffe about birth control and Viagra and caused trouble for McCain back in the campaign. Condi Rice has said repeatedly she doesn’t want the position, and she’s too connected to Bush. Mike Huckabee would shore up the Evangelical angle, and he appeals to the base, but there’s no indication he’s being seriously considered this late in the game.
It’s a mystery, but I’m going to bet, and hope and pray, that McCain picks Romney. Romney’s attack dog role in Denver during the Democratic National convention may have been a signal of McCain choosing him as Veep.
