Jun 04 2008
How McCain Can Beat Obama
There is a very straightforward way for John McCain to ensure a success against Obama this fall (beyond all the valid points regarding Obama’s inexperience, his huge mistake on the success in Iraq, his questionable associations, his liberal record). Â Hillary’s supporters want to go somewhere other than Obama. Â If McCain selects a stalwart, conservative women VP this election is over before it begins. Â Obama can’t lose the 50% of Hillary voters who garnered her the most votes for any presidential candidate in the primaries. Â And if McCain selects a woman VP, I am fairly certain many of those Hillary supporters will cross over.
What is important about this is the selection needs to be made on merit and be a conservative to help bring in the conservative base. Â There must be plenty of excellent options out in America. Â Please feel free to propose your ideas for a woman VP candidate for John McCain in the comments section below!
Has anyone thought of Governor Lingle in Hawaii? She’s been doing quite a good job there. Was re-elected in that ‘blue’ state. She has international dealings with all the tourism the state does…having contact with many foreign governments. Experience running a state with lots of challenges…might even bring the state into our column.
Gov. Palin is a very good choice too. Please leave Gov. Jindal for the time being…he can fix Louisiana and New Orleans. We really need him there for now…four or eight years should have him seasoned very nicely with a great rep if he succeeds there.
McCain/Clinton…what would our base think about that? Would be very interested in that one.
Perhaps adding a minority like a woman as Sarah Palin (Gov. AK). As I hear she is smart, young, smart, conservative, not bad to look at either. My thoughts
Sadly, I see this race much like I saw Jimmy Carter vs. Gerald Ford.
Neither candidate is particularly attractive to me and I don’t think the running mate amounts to a pinch of owl scat in the grand scheme of things. My prediction is that one of two things will happen:
1. Obama gets elected and so totally screws things up that the Democrats are run out of town on a rail in 2012.
2. McCain gets elected but is steamrolled by a veto-proof Democrat majority in Congress who totally screw things up but the way our system works, McCain will get the blame for it because he is President.
Nothing good is going to come out of this either way. The Republicans just don’t have a solid, charismatic candidate with a track record and a solid “line” to bring to the people. McCain is getting the nod because it’s his “turn” just like Ford and like Dole.
Don’t pull Jindal, he belongs where he is. Let him finish his term as Governor. Rudy would have been my candidate of choice for this election. He would have won a lot of Democrats in the Northeast. He has a track record of getting things done and being an effective executive. McCain is a wheeler dealer. Fine for a Congress critter but you need someone who can get things done and manage and not worry sometimes about stepping on toes.
This election sucks.
If McCain is such a shoe in, why must he screw things up and Pick a VP to appeal to one of the victim catagories that vote in blocks? Considering McCain’s age, I would appreciate it if he chose the best person available to serve out his term, just in case he doesn’t make it all the way. If a person would not be a viable candidate on his own, he doesn’t belong on the ticket. Would Jindal, MS Alaska, or Hawaii , or any of the others mentioned so far be acceptable as a national candidate on their own? We already have one party that has it’s ticket headed by a minority type person, both racial and political, McCain does not need to muddy the waters by following suit and loading his ticket with a controversial partner just because the Democrats have done so.
If he follows form I expect McCain to pull the most blockheaded move of any possibilities.
The one he for sure would cause the most grief with any group of voters would be Charlie Crist of Fl.
I hope he is just using him as a distraction for picking the real VP but even with doing that McCain is tweaking a lot of people just being associated with thinking Charlie could be his pick.
Hello AJ,
Can you comment for us on the latest statements about Hillary
abandoning her bid by Friday please?
I am confused.
As to a female running mate, there still is Condi, though her inane belief
that she could secure a middle east peace deal has made her look
somewhat weak.
No, forget Condi, just read that she spoke at AIPAC saying that
what was really needed was a peaceful Palestinian state.
With judgment like that, maybe BHO should put her on his shortlist.
I was just reading an article about a recent poll showing McCain with an 11 point edge on the women’s vote over Obama. That’s quite remarkable, if true (should be the other way around). I remember some analyst pointing out that when Hillary ran she would bring out first time women voters to great advantage. I wasn’t aware the woman’s suffrage movement was still so big. So, I guess my question would be are these woman voters only for Hillary……or would they be just as inclined to vote for any woman?
Of the GOP women I’ve been hearing about and know of….Palin probably would be the best bet if McCain goes that route. And, as far as I know, Palin is the only to receive a visit by his VP search team.
At the end of the day, McCain has the advantage of waiting for Obama’s VP pick before deciding his VP strategy. I’m pretty much in the group that says “leave McCain alone”. I think we should trust him to make those evaluations (Romney, Huckabee, Pawlenty, Palin, etc advantages) and go with his best judgement.
Any of those on his VP short list sound fine to me. It really comes down to electoral strategy.
To address a few comments here (in no particular order) I think Condi Rice would be great – except the far right is scared of her. But given what she could bring to the ticket with her years on the NSC and at State she could fill Cheney’s shoes in a heart beat.
She’s a lot like Bush – which is why I like her and most others don’t.
And why should McCain pick a VP to maximize his votes? Because they all do – except Bush. Reagan and Bush Sr were not the perfect pair, they were a way to heal the party and bring some states along. Same thing with Gore and Clinton.
These were strategic decisions in a chess game to win. If you think politics is ruled by ideology you don’t know DC. Politics is about winning so you can have a shot at implementing some of your ideas.
There have sure been a series of articles about Jindal lately. Here’s one of the latest:
Jindal Excites GOP
As a Possible Running Mate
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121263051303347203.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
I would have to say, Jindal is the only one that excites me. It is why it I have mixed thoughts about whether he should finish his work and commitment in LA or be pulled to strenthen the GOP now. There trully are pros and cons. I believe if you sent Jindal to every college campus Obama spoke at…..he could reason some young minds to what I consider the best ideals for the country (wrestle them away from Obama). He is young, accomplished beyond his years, and warmly relates to the public. The fact that he is a fearsome debater and can convince a fish to swim out of water doesn’t hurt.
What made me think about Jindal today was a recent Obama attack on McCain over Katrina. Next to Iraq, Katrina will be used alot as the Obama camp keeps the Bush/McCain third term strategy going. Jindal separates himself from Bush over Katrina because he is “everything Bush wasn’t” during Katrina. He walked out of useless meetings with the LA Governor’s office when they sat around watching themselves on the news instead of holding a meeting…..and went out into the burroughs to personally see what was needed. He rolled his sleeves up and did things for the people…..and, they remember.
What Joe Lieberman is to McCain over Iraq…..Bobby Jindal is to McCain over Katrina. They are the best weapons McCain has.
Getting back to the original question….
I figure that there are about 6 women who can be seriously considered for the VP slot.
Gov. Palin has the drawback of a very short political career – no longer than Obama’s. On the other hand, she is conservative enough to bring the party together, and has kids…which I think would be a draw for a lot of women voters. She also has the advantages of youth and good looks.
Gov. Lingle I had not thought of, but she does have the length of tenure to make her a truly viable candidate. The question is, can she help pull the party together?
Sen. Snowe is just too far to the left. McCain needs to throw the conservative base a bone if he expects their votes and campaign contributions.
Sen. Hutchison is a very tempting choice…if she’ll take it. On the other hand, she is reported to have some political skeletons in her closet, and is known to be planning a run for the Governorship of Texas. On the gripping hand, the VP slot puts you close to the Oval Office.
Sen. Dole is also tempting, but a little too far to the left to really balance the ticket.
Sec. Rice? Too closely associated with the Bush administration. McCain needs separation desperately. Put Rice on the ticket, and McCain has to drag Bush and all his negatives with her.
However, there is one BIG thing that McCain has to do. He has got to wait Obama out. The Dems are holding their convention first, which means that their ticket will be a known quantity. McCain should make no definite decisions until then.
I am getting so tired of hearing people trash McCain. He got the nomination, that means people in the Republican party supported him. He is one of the most popular Republicans in the country. Now maybe some people on the right don’t like that, but they have no one but themselves to blame for it.
Maybe if they had stuck with Bush and backed him up, instead of helping the Democrats to ruin the man, they could get another conservative nominated.
Mike:
It probably should not be another Senator.
dave m:
We do need a peaceful Palestinian state. There is nothing wrong with saying that. The idea that the Palestinians {there are millions of them} are all going to be run out of the territories is absurd. The only hope for any reasonable solution is a peaceful Palestinian state. Now, whether or not that can happen anytime soon is another matter. But the Palestinians will retain their victim status and much of their support from the Left until and unless they are forced to be a responsible state.
The problem is the culture is a dysfunctional mess.
The Palestinians are barbarians. They have no interest in coexisting with Israel. What more do they have to do to prove this to people?
All of these are executives and would add to ticket:
Romney- proven business experience & gov.
Jindal- brilliant and gov
Mark Sanford- gov, help carry the south
Palin- gov, has son in Iraq, smart