The McCain-? Ticket

Wed, March 05, 2008 - 1:35 PM

The John McCain veep speculation started weeks ago, but expect the number two talk to amp up now that he’s locked down the GOP nomination.

Who will it be? Anyone who tells you they know is lying. As McCain’s people told the New York Times, not only have they not selected anyone yet, there’s not even a short list or a process for choosing in place. In other words, they’re still trying to decide how to decide.

All this explains why approximately 417 politicians have been named as possible number twos. There’s governors: Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, Mark Sanford of South Carolina, Sonny Perdue of Georgia, Jon Huntsman, Jr., of Utah, Charlie Crist of Florida and Haley Barbour of Mississippi. There are senators: Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Richard Burr and Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina, and more.

Uber-prognosticator Larry Sabato, the University of Virginia professor, has a nice breakdown of the pluses and minuses of various contenders.

Settling on a process to select a vice president is more important than it might seem. Dick Cheney was first tapped by President Bush to head his vice presidential selection committee, which, of course, ended up picking...Cheney.

At the joint McCain-Bush news conference this morning, Bush was asked to offer advice to McCain on choosing a number two.

"I'd tell him to be careful about who he names to be the head of the selection committee," Bush said, to laughter. "Look, he's got plenty of experience. He knows what he needs to do, which is to have a process that vets candidates, and the person -- somebody he's going to be comfortable with and somebody whose advice he relies upon."

"People don't vote for Vice Presidents -- as much as I hate to say that for those who have been candidates for Vice President -- they're going to vote for who gets to sit inside that Oval Office and make decisions on how to protect the country and keep taxes low and how to have a culture that respects the dignity of every human being. That's what the race is all about. I know there's going to be a lot of speculation on who the Vice President, this and that, but the speculation is over about who our party is going to nominate," Bush said.

--Sean Mussenden