1) JC Watts: Former Congressman, Oklahoma
2) Haley Barbour: Governor, Mississippi
3) Charlie Crist: Governor, Florida
4) Lindsey Graham: Senator, South Carolina
5) Michael Steele: Former Lieutenant Governor, Maryland
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Bloggers Pick a Veep
Right Wing News surveyed right-of-center bloggers to tabulate the most, and least, desired VP selections for John McCain; the top two recommendations were Michael Steele (Former Maryland Lieutenant Governor) and Mitt Romney. I was among those polled; for the record, my suggestions were:
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8 comments:
I am curious as to why Lindsey Graham is on your list.
I don't really know much about any of your suggestions (well, beyond Crist), but I would suggest a downcheck on both Watts and Graham simply because then the ticket would completely lack executive experience, which is already a weakness. If it weren't for the same on the other side of the ticket, I'd consider that to be a major problem.
I really do think that a governorship is and should be a prime factor in the choice of chief executive.
The governors of FL, TX, NY, and CA should always be good first considerations simply because they've already demonstrated management capacity of a large government agency (subject, of course, to their records in that job).
There are always other relevant issues, of course -- foreign policy and military policy among them, which a governor generally does not deal with, but the governorship of a state does show ability in the capacity of chief executive.
I think well, as apparently you do, of Barbour, in my case at least based only on the difference in handling Katrina (vs. La), which shows ability in crisis management that few governors have any chops at.
He'd be a good veep, one suspects, to send as the rep in the event of any crises which occur during the next one or two election cycles. How well he's done as a governor by measures outside that, I don't know.
BTW, one thing I don't like about Crist, is that he's apparently caved in to pressure on things a couple times and reversed himself.
I think an executive should reverse themselves when they are wrong, but in the cases I'm aware of, he seems to have done so on the basis of pressure groups, not on a reassessment of the facts. That's not a certainty, but is something I'd look close at.
Stan, OBH:
My list is weighted, obviously, by southerners. Graham's an experienced, proven vote-getter. Crist is the flavor-of-the-month, and Republicans obviously need Florida to win. Normally, I would agree that Senator McCain should be paired with executive-experienced VP, but given the paucity of executive-type resumes on the Dem. side, I think it more important to play to conservatives and/or independents. In some ways, Barbour is perfect, but it's unlikely--too many inside-the-beltway types (including journalists) were hostile during his tenure as RNC Chair.
Let's save Jindal for the next go-round.
AVI:
Agreed. With four years more experience, Jindal would be a formidable candidate for any office.
> I think it more important to play to conservatives and/or independents.
I certainly don't think you need to play to conservatives. What imbecile on the Right would possibly consider voting for Obama or Hillary? I don't like McCain at all, but no matter how you slice it, if you're right of center -- hell, even mid-left of center -- you'd be an idiot to vote for either Dem over McCain.
I might suggest either of NH's Senators, Gregg or Sununu. But even though we are a battleground state, I don't think our few electoral votes are going to be that big a draw. Our time is in primary season, after which we recede into the background.
Gregg has a good reputation with environmentalists, as he was an old-style conservationist before the environment was quite so cool. I think he goes too far in that direction, but it might be a plus, and he is overall quite solid. Sununu is one of about four Senators who can actually understand a moderately complicated scientific argument (McCain, Clinton, and Obama are not among the four). Both have good lifetime ACU ratings without being fire-breathers.
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