Last night on Hardball, Chris Matthews predicted that John McCain would pick Mitt Romney and Barack Obama would pick Joe Biden as their respective running mates. The two pundits seemed to agree. Are you kidding me?
First Romney. There is no question this guy has a great resume. He was a chief executive as the Governor of MA. He ran the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake. And he was enormously successful in the business world. But does any of this matter to McCain? For me, McCain needs two things. A VP with solid Conservative credentials from a swing state. I don't believe Romney delivers on either. As much as he became the darling of the right in the Primary, I don't think most people identify Romney as a rock solid Conservative. And he sure as heck isn't going to deliver Massachusetts for McCain. Matthews contends that Romney can help deliver Michigan and Pennsylvania. But I have my doubts.
Now Biden. Where did this come from? I know Obama needs to balance the ticket with experience, but how old is this guy? How can the Obama campaign attack McCain on the age issue with Biden on the ticket. Obama does need the experience factor, which Biden delivers, but he needs a swing state too and Biden doesn't do much there. And while it wouldn't hurt Obama to pick a VP his senior, I think the contrast needs to be less striking.
Tim Kaine's name keeps coming up, but I think the folks over at Roanoke Valley Republicans have a point. With Mark Warner on the ballot already, Kaine probably doesn't add much. It's Warner that can turn Virginia blue, not Kaine.
http://roanokevalleyrepublicans.blogspot.com/2008/07/message-to-senator-obama-please-pick.html
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For McCain to tap Romney instead of Sarah Palin as his Veep woud be a gigantic blunder. Unf_ _ king believable!!! Team McCain CAN’T BE THAT STUPID!!!
McCain would be stupid (what else is new?) to choose Romney. Romney has the credentials, but the stigma is still his Mormonism. Look how that affected him in the primaries. He's a "flip flop" on abortion (even if it was a genuine "change of heart") in people's minds.
The thing is, McCain's Rockefeller wing of the Republican party doesn't get it. The rest of the country isn't like California and running like a liberal Republican will end in a loss. The South has historically been the determiner of the POTUS and no candidate that didn't win there won in the past 40+ years since JFK.
Look at 2004, Bush won. You need that southern vote and McCain would be stupid NOT to pick Huckabee as that VP position.
Huckabee has the social conservative votes (because he's a Baptist), he's "likeable" (plays the Gee-Tar), he's got the "Chuck" vote (for those who are "tough on crime types"), he's pro-life (which counterbalances Mccain's liberal side (perceived or not, regardless of what he told people @ Saddleback), and he's also got the fiscal liberal side that those leaning Democrat would swing towards.
Romney's religion, would be a factor, regardless of his track record. He does give that "youth" boost McCain needs, but I think McCain just hates Social Conservatives enough that Huck would not be the choice, even though its most logical to counterbalance his problems with disaffected Republicans.
Huck cleaned up Arkansas after Clinton's mess, albeit through higher taxation. People are thinking in terms of economics, so this is the deal and McCain even admitted that he was weak in this area when Ron Paul grilled him in the debates.
McCain the maverick, alas, will pick Romney when he should be smart and try to win. It doesn't really matter to me because I'm going to still write Ron Paul in because I can't pick two bad diet sodas when I really want Orange Juice....
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