There are only two people John McCain should even bother considering, people whose names are already well known and who will thus add name recognition to the ticket.

Find out who at theuseofreason.blogspot.com

cAN'T YOU FIND ANYTHING NICE ABOUT HILLARY???

EVEN THO THERE ARE SOME PEOPLE WHO HAVE COME OUT OF DREAM LAND AND DISMISS THE RHETORIC THAT IS THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN AND ACTING LIKE THE SECOND COMING OF EITHER JESUS OR ELVIS

I CERTAINLY THINK THE MEDIA SHOULD CELEBRATE AFTER HILLARY LOSES WISCONSIN AND HAWAII TOMMAROW. EVER SINCE HILLARY STARTED TO RUN, THE MEDIA HAS KNOCKED HER DOWN, MADE FUN OF HER, AND GAVE OBAMA A FREE PASS ON EVERYTHING. I TRULLY BBELIEVE THAT THE MEDIA WAS AND STILL AFRAID OF BEING ACCUSED OF BEING RACIEST IF ONE WORD AGAINST OBAMA IS MUTTERED. I AM SO SCARED OF OBAMA BECOMING PRESIDENT THAT I AM GETTONG SICK ALREADY

I don't see how McCain can pick Barbour given his historical involvement with the white supremacist CCC. They're agents of intolerance more than Robertson and Falwell, if less influential.

http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=145

Yes, Obama would likely see McCain a Sarah Palin and raise him a Kathleen Sebelius (who actually has 5 years gubernatorial experience and a proven ability to win in a usually unfavorable state). But how can McCain beat Obama anyway?? See the Letterman jokes about Dole's age in 1996 above. This is an ageist country. For a 72 year old talking about staying in Iraq for 10,000 years to beat an inspiring, movement-creating 47 year old who attracts liberals, independents, and Republicans would take some kind of miracle. Like Reagan coming back from the dead.

What about Sarah Palin as VP? She'd add a historical edge to the Republican ticket (esp. if Obama or Clinton choose a white man to run with), and is very popular and good looking. She is fresh out of being mayor of a town most people have never heard of though.

Governor Barbour has the mass appeal needed to help the GOP nominee carry not only the south but the traditional conservative base.
Draft Haley for Vice President is seeking to convince McCain to select Governor Haley Barbour as his vice presidential running mate by delivering a petition signed by 50,000 GOP supporters to Sen. McCain and Governor Barbour by March 1, 2008.

We need your help to reach our goal.

Visit http://www.drafthaley.com and sign the petition to Draft Haley.

For more than a decade, Governor Barbour has fought to defend conservative values, to maintain freedom and to honor faith. As a fellow conservative, please take a few moments to make sure our voices are heard in Washington by helping to draft Haley Barbour as America's next vice president.

"Remember that Huckabee has drastically raised his national profile in this race and has become the voice (or at least one of the voices) of social conservatives nationally ... With a bright future ahead of him, Huckabee will only run his crusade against the establishment for so long."

I love the way Cilizza only looks at politicians' self-interest when predicting their actions, and never attaches even an ounce of weight to their verbal assurances. I don't doubt he's right.

But in real life, if I attract investors to my business, saying I'm in it for the long haul, then I immediately fold up and walk away, that's fraud.

A politician who attracts fundraisers by promising to stay in the race, and who then immediately drops out, gets to keep the money. But it sounds like fraud to me.

This still amazes me. How and why John McCain? What do the Republican leaders know (or think they know) that we do not (as a whole)?

Obama vs. McCain- The Internet Indicators:
http://newsusa.myfeedportal.com/viewarticle.php?articleid=48

The Rio Grande Valley strategy:

http://www.themonitor.com/news/clinton_9016___article.html/texas_obama.html

See

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/politics/stories/MYSA021308.EN.archstm.bacc27b6.html

The Guv's know when they smell electability.

Gingrich and Sanford are the big "get's" that McCain needs sooner than later.

http://www.political-buzz.com/

Chris Cillizza,

Your article is great and fine. This is something spiffy that I think you left out:

When Dole ran, he got beat up pretty good about his age.

David Letterman began running a series of mock, but realistic-sounding, Dole TV ads.

"Some candidates for president lived through Vietnam and World War II," the announcer said in a serious voice. "But only one candidate lived through the Civil War and the Declaration of Independence. Vote for Bob Dole! He's a thousand years old!"

On the day that Bill Clinton, who was 50, went in for his annual physical, Letterman said, "And in a related move, Bob Dole went in today for his annual autopsy."

Letterman continued: "Bob Dole is so old his Social Security number is 2. He's so old that when he was a teenager, his cologne was New Spice. He's so old, his Secret Service code name is The Clapper."

Just jokes, of course. But can McCain expect to be treated any differently regarding his age should he get the Republican nomination? (From a 'Politico' article).

freedom41, Sarah Palin is an interesting choice, but I think there would be *too* much of an age gap there. It would really not click and McCain would look incredibly old next to her. Plus all the commenters on conservative boards are squawking about how McCain absolutely must nominate a long time conservative. Palin's name never comes up.

Also, Obama will see your Sarah Palin and raise you a Kathleen Sebelius.

Actually, KOZ, a nice analysis was done on smartmoney that suggests the market has already internalized a Republican defeat. Before NH, it reacted badly to Obama, after NH it reacted badly to Clinton.

Back on topic, nice to see all those governors endorsing a man who voted today for torture after previously fighting it. Oh McCain, what principles won't you compromise?

Judge - If BHO is the D, why not Bobby Jindal? - he is the kind of technocrat McC would like, I think.

drindl, what torture bill?

good -- not that anyone cares where you're going, but the boards will be easier to read without your spew.

dear bloggers, I must take my leave of you for a while. I am off to Barbados for some rum and fresh fish. In my absence, please keep the moonbats and jackels at bay.

cool runnings Mon!

moonbat two checks in with ignorant remark. SSDD

Claudia: Who knows what goes on in the bizarre mind of zouk?

And now he thinks Newt Gingrich is going to make some sort of triumphant return? Whatever floats his boat.

Because he is returning with bigger ears. another total failure of a president who has no business running anything bigger than a peanut farm.

enter malaise.
You see despite the empty promises, the government can't solve all your problems. and the "rich" won't pay for it all.

I am still waiting to hear one thing that Obambi will compromise on to get it passed through the GOP congress. If you think any of them are going to vote for the ultra-liberal give-aways he is planning, you are delusional.

but we needn't worry, Ultra Libs don't get elected. Just ask Presidents Kerry, gore, dukakis, Mcgovern, etc. there was that one mistake with Jimah, but we all know how that turned out. how quickly the brain-dead libs forget.

wonder why zouk is so obssessed with Carter, who has been irrelevant for 30 years?

I am holding out for Newt as VP, then POTUS in 2012. now that the vampire hildebeast has been staked, we have some hope for the future.

But beware. as any fan of monster movies knows, the monster kills the good looking young thing (played by Obambi) before the hero (McCain) finally dispatches her.

Watch for the usual monster dirty tricks - seating MI and FL, calling in favors, bribes and blackmail on super delegates.

When hill calls him 'all hat and no cattle' to other Dems, all we have to do is play that over and over in the general. At the end we can insert the phrase (I am hillary and I approved this message). even Dems can see he is without actual substance. but that never stopped them. they elected Jimmah didn't they? consider this a bad remake of the first Jimmah monster movie. but this time the hero gets him in time.

The old-guard feminist establishment has also rushed out of cold storage to embrace Hillary Clinton via tremulous manifestoes of gal power that have startlingly exposed the sentimental slackness of thought that made Gloria Steinem and company wear out their welcome in the first place. Hillary's gonads must be sending out sci-fi rays that paralyze the paleo-feminist mind -- because her career, attached to her husband's flapping coattails, has sure been heavy on striking pious attitudes but ultra-light on concrete achievements.

Camille has a way with words

http://www.salon.com/opinion/paglia/2008/02/13/political_wars/

News flash - loony drindl is not going to vote for McCain. stop the presses.

Well so much for McCain's integrity. He said, oh maybe a week or so ago, that we was against torture. But now he's flipflopped again and voted for torture today, to please the bloodthirsty sadistic base.

Too bad. Every day he loses more independent voters.

Another good day on the market. It seems the people are beggining to realize that the clinton nightmare is almost over and the possibility of baby Obambi getting elected and ruining the economy is slim. the result is a reversal of the Pelosi recession. the likelihood of another R president is already getting priced into the economy - hence the reversal of the contemplation of a Dem president.

Not Dole; her time has passed.

Bobby Jindal? Great idea, Proud, but are you kidding? He's probably still trying to figure out which dresser drawer he should use to keep his socks in down there in Red Stick, LA. Sanford would be interesting but fiscal conservancy appears to have all the appeal of the bubonic plague within the GOP's inner sanctum. I suspect that McCain will accept whomever they pick out for him.

Anyway, the governors can 'coalesce' (word choice!) around McCain all they want. Governors are far too moderate for the 'fringe'/base; the 'evils' of being an electable politician. Their 'coalescence' won't amount to either a hill of beans or the mountain that CC tries to make it out to be.

anon99- the only potential party crosser is Lieberman. And Libby Dole- are you picking her because she's a woman? Dole is the perfect cautionary tale for anyone who wants to vote for a woman who is largely utilizing her husbands legacy to get ahead politically. She's also organizationally a fiasco being the head of the 2006 Republican Senate campaign and sometimes rumored to be in trouble in a reliably conservative state.

In fact, when my mother surprised me by saying she wantes to vote for Hillary in the primaries because she wouldn't want to give up her chance to vote for a woman I asked "Would you vote similarly for Libby Dole?" That one really threw her off, I assume the answer is no there (she did end up voting for Clinton anyway but Elizabeth Dole is the perfect counter example to the desire to pick a female politician, any female politician attitude that sometimes gets advocates).

Cillizza forgot another governor that's endorsed McCain:

http://lonewacko.com/blog/archives/007462.html

That's probably McCain's most cherished endorsement so far.

Stonecreek notes
"The exception is MN, but that doesn't look too promising."

It wouldn't be promising in that Pawlenty wouldn't be able to 'deliver' MN in the general election. However, Pawlenty does fit a lot of criteria that McCain presumably seeks; being (in no particular order):
young
reliably conservative
proven executive experience

I think history will demonstrate that Pawlenty has actually created some fiscal problems here in MN, but they're only just becoming evident now; he could certainly run on a McCain ticket this year as a 'successful' no-new-taxes governor.

BTW, to put this problem in perspective, if you ignore party affiliation, the perfect VP for Obama would be McCain and the perfect VP for McCain would be Obama!

It depends on who he's facing in November. Either way, it's got to be a safe pair of hands to neutralize the age issue. If he's facing Hillary, he's got more room to maneuver. But if he's facing Obama, he's got to pick a transformational figure. Palin would be great if she were governor of Alabama instead of Alaska. If he needs a transformational VP, he's probably going to have to go outside the circle of Governors. Elizabeth Dole, maybe, if she were 10 years younger.

"McCain probably would benefit from having a 'blue state' or 'swing state' governor as his running mate"

Agreed, but outside of Ahnold (who is ineligible), there aren't any. Look at Chris' list. They're mostly all red staters and from small red states to boot. The exception is MN, but that doesn't look too promising.

I like the idea of Huntsman. He would be a sort of surrogate for Romney: Mormon and filthy rich. He can finance his own 527 group and his candidacy would reassure the Mormons that they (and their money) have a home in the Republican party.

USMC, I agree with you about Sanford, but Bobby Jindal is also a rising star and would add a lot to the ticket. I hope his name comes up at the meeting.

Put Sarah Palin on the ticket. She's pretty hot, and that would probably attract a lot of moderates. I wish I were joking, but it's probably true that it would be a factor for voters. Also, it would neutralize the Hillary first woman thing and maybe attract some female voters.

It's practically impossible for McCain to lose the nomination at this point. Of course Republican elected officials are supporting him; they'll always support their party's nominee. If this had happened one or two months ago, it would be news. But right now, it's pretty meaningless.

"If he goes too far right to please the base, he's going to lose the independents who have propelled him forward in the primaries."

Agreed. McCain's "I am so a good conservative" bleats are not going to get him the indy votes he will clearly need to win in November.

McCain probably would benefit from having a "blue state" or "swing state" governor as his running mate if he wants to be compete for swing voters. He also needs someone younger on the ticket.

Governors may be endorsing McCain, but he needs to be aware of the fine line he's walking. If he goes too far right to please the base, he's going to lose the independents who have propelled him forward in the primaries. If the base doesn't end up buying his "reformed conservative" argument, then they could end up sitting on their hands on election day (seeing as how they seem okay with the idea of a President Obama).

Beyond all that, this election is apparently going to have a lot to do with the economy, something McCain doesn't have the best track record with.

excerpted from: http://politicalmaelstrom.blogspot.com/2008/02/if-economy-got-vote.html

I'd be interested to see what Mark Sanford (SC) does.

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