I'm not that familiar with him but Coburn is pretty extremely conservative, isn't he? He's also completely unknown around the country and it seems like McCain really wants a bump out of the announcement. Coburn won't give him one. Palin's dealing with her own scandal in Alaska, but I'm not real sure why she fell off the radar either. Maybe she didn't. Don't know much about her either but she'd certainly be a sexy pick. I've heard Jindal speak a couple times now. That dude is a stud. He's the real deal. There are a couple reasons he probably won't be the pick: 1. He's 36. It's gonna be tough to go after a 47 year old first term senator on experience when the person you most trust to be your replacement as president is a 36 year old first term governor. 2. He performs exorcisms. That is freaking crazy. Wanna talk about someone who's "not one of us?" That dude performs exorcisms.
Barely a year as Governor. He did serve six years in the House, but I think the "consensus" is that he needs a little more time.
Coburn is very conservative, and has said some things that wouldn't play well in soundbites. (Namely: "Abortion doctors deserve the death penalty." Not sure about the context, because he performed a few abortions himself as a ob-gyn.) His willingness to hold up bills that would pass 99-1 when they duplicate current government programs is what puts him way up in my book. Palin's "scandal" is a joke. She got her brother-in-law fired from the state troopers after he tasered his own stepson. He had previously been caught poaching moose and drinking in his patrol car. I agree. I like him, but he's not ready, and it'll take him being in the public eye for a little longer. I haven't been completely honest. As an Republican Liberty Caucus guy, I really want one of the two RLC governors, Mark Sanford, to be chosen. I really want Sanford to be President in 2012. But I've been told by someone who should know that Sanford has emphatically turned down McCain for running mate.
Palin has a 3-month old baby with Down Syndrome: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=64876 There was talk before that she wouldn't want to take on a Washington role that makes it difficult to be there for her. I don't know if that's the case or what the circumstances are, but that's why she fell out of the chatter, I believe.
Wow. Norah O'Donnell just said she heard it was down to Pawlenty and Ridge. In other words, one guy that will tear the GOP apart and one that will put them to sleep. Meanwhile, both Rove and Novak are apparently freaking out over the apparently very real possibility of Lieberman. As a Democrat, it's hard to know who to root for. Each of these possibilities is just so delicious. Of the three I guess I would fear Ridge the most just by default. Either of the others would tickle me silly. But given the addition of Biden (PA's third senator) to Obama's ticket, I'm not worried about Ridge helping to steal PA. And then there's still Romney. (A Dem can dream...) But I expect that Houses-gate and Romney's riches were enough to push McCain finally against the idea of teaming up with a guy he truly dislikes. Maybe McCain has a trick up his sleeve. It wouldn't surprise me. But the names we're hearing are really, really piss poor.
A Bush budget guy? That's worse than Lieberman. A trick up his sleeve might be David Walker. Independent, endorsed McCain, "movie star". Walker gives great credibility on the economy and budget.
colin powell will be a good choice if only colin had been endorsing mccain, which he hadn't. he's been basically still undecided.
He doesn't exactly seem "undecided." He might not endorse Obama but I can pretty much guarantee you he will neither run with nor endorse McCain. In fact, I doubt anyone here - even the most extreme right-wingers - thinks he would.
i know. but i think most would agree if he did endorse mccain, he would be a very good choice. a lot of the remaining choices are just not that good. if ridge wasn't pro-choice, i think he would be a formidable candidate. but he is and that goes against the base of mccain. pawlenty would be destroyed by biden in a debate. and romney, well let's just say we can play the politics game with this guy like mccain had done with biden/hillary using their quotes. hey, he can surprise us and choose a woman.
You guys are missing one of the major possibilites: Kay Bailey Hutchison. She is indeed a finalist, and could grab a ton of disgruntled Clinton voters.
^I didn't miss her. I've been talking about her for months and did again in this thread. But I'm cautiously optimistic there are a lot less disgruntled Clinton voters than there were yesterday. And there will be less still on the fence, whether McCain chooses a woman or not, when his record on women's issues is actually known. Let's leave abortion rights out for now, even though the issue matters very much to Hillary's voters. And let's just talk about the fact that McCain opposes equal pay for equal work. You think putting a woman on the ticket's going to make women overlook that? I don't. Also, p.s., we're unified. At last. Hallelujah.
Well somebody just needs to remind those Clinton voters that McCain tends to have a mean and nasty streak when it comes to women. If they love Clinton so much, how could they vote for a guy who pulled a Rush Limbaugh on Chelsea? http://www.salon.com/news/1998/06/25newsb.html
The best way to steal some of the excitement from the day after Obama gets the spotlight. http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/08/28/america/28repubs.php McCain to announce running mate on Friday By Elisabeth Bumiller and Michael Cooper Published: August 28, 2008 WASHINGTON: Senator John McCain has decided on his running mate, two Republican strategists in contact with McCain's campaign said Wednesday. He is expected to reveal his choice at a rally at a basketball arena in Dayton, Ohio, at 11 a.m. Friday. McCain's decision is known only to his small inner circle of advisers, no more than three or four people, who have refused all public discussion on the matter. Republicans close to the campaign said that the top contenders remained the same three men who have been the source of speculation for weeks: former Governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, Governor Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota and, possibly, Senator Joseph Lieberman, independent of Connecticut. It was unclear how seriously McCain was considering his good friend, Lieberman, who favors abortion rights and whose selection could set off a revolt among delegates at the Republican National Convention next week in Minneapolis-St. Paul as well as a furious backlash among Christian conservatives, a crucial voting bloc of the Republican Party. But as recently as Tuesday, McCain was said to still be entertaining the idea of Lieberman, who was Al Gore's running mate on the Democratic presidential ticket in 2000. Under this option, McCain's choice of Lieberman would help him appeal to women, independents and conservative Democrats in a tough year for Republican candidates. "It's really alive in McCain's mind," said one Republican consultant familiar with some of the campaign's deliberations. Other Republicans said they suspected that whatever McCain's personal views, his aides could be pushing Lieberman with reporters as part of a disinformation campaign to stir interest in the selection and to make it appear as if McCain, a longtime opponent of abortion, was open to all possibilities and was therefore more of an independent candidate. Today in Americas Obama wins nomination; Biden and Bill Clinton rally Democratic party U.S. military secretly sending foreign fighters to home nations Yuri Nosenko, KGB defector, said to be dead in U.S. Some Republicans also said that Lieberman did not catch fire as a campaigner in 2000 and that he would alienate more voters, particularly evangelicals, than he would attract. McCain's inner circle was described as divided on the choices, although one Republican close to the campaign said that there had been no raging internal debate. Whatever the aides' opinions, McCain was said to have made the decision on his own. Romney remained the most talked-about possibility on Wednesday among Republican Party officials and on cable television, not least because of the theory that he would help McCain win Michigan, a crucial state in this election and where Romney's father served as governor. But Pawlenty gained some currency as the day wore on because of what were perceived as Romney's downsides, particularly his wealth as many Americans face financial struggles and his past as a venture capital manager. McCain came under attack from Democrats on this front after he was unable to say in an interview last week how many houses he owns. (The McCain campaign said he had four houses, and the Obama campaign said eight, with McCain's wife. Romney said Wednesday that his houses amounted to "one less than John Kerry," the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, which would add up to four.) "Twelve houses between them, two rich guys, it's almost like shooting fish in a bucket," said Ed Rollins, a Republican strategist who led Mike Huckabee's presidential campaign this year. In a preview of Democratic attacks should Romney be on the Republican ticket, David Plouffe, Senator Barack Obama's campaign manager, told reporters at the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday that Romney was a "job-killing machine" because of business deals he did that sent jobs overseas. A Romney spokesman, Eric Fehrnstrom, responded that Romney had run the Salt Lake City Olympics and a successful business and that Obama "has never run anything, not even a corner store." Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Republican of Texas, was also mentioned as a possibility on Wednesday, but veteran Republicans quickly discounted her because of what is described as her cool relationship with McCain. "It's meshugeneh," said Kenneth Duberstein, who was President Ronald Reagan's last chief of staff, using the Yiddish word for crazy.
Didn't know if this had been posted yet. -- Rove tried to kill Lieberman VP pick Republican strategist Karl Rove called Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) late last week and urged him to contact John McCain to withdraw his name from vice presidential consideration, according to three sources familiar with the conversation. Lieberman dismissed the request. Lieberman “laughed at the suggestion and certainly did not call [McCain] on it,” said one source familiar with the details. http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20080828/pl_politico/12922
Lieberman at this point would be about the worst pick for McCain. Trying to counter an old Senator with another old Senator won't help out McCain who is himself an old Senator. Lieberman will also alienate a lot of McCain's own base. As someone who lives in Minnesota I have my doubts about Pawlenty but given the choice of Biden by Obama Pawlenty is looking like a better choice. Having a young dynamic governor from middle America to complement an old Senator whose been in DC for a long time.
