My guess is that McCain is about as likely a choice as Shumer.
I doubt Bush will choose Governor Whitman.
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In the last election, she won by about 1%. Her opponent was not exactly a strong candidate, either. He was/is a young mayor from Woodbridge–not exactly a well-respected town–and was kind of a shmoe. He almost won, though, and not because people were voting for him, but because people were voting against Whitman. Her support in her own state is not strong.
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That election took place before some of New Jersey’s latest well-publicized debacles:
–Shooting on the Turnpike/racial profiling
–Privatizing car inspection and the resulting disasters
–Other corruption in the newly privatized DMV
–Damn, I can’t think of the other ones at the moment! -
There is so much that could easily be criticized about Whitman:
–Her so-called 30% tax cut
–The bond issues she’s floated
–Her record on education
–Her record on the environment
–Her tendency to allow big companies to put their names all over our state’s arenas, etc. I know that that is now common nationwide, but I am scared. What’s next? The Microsoft Washington Monument? -
She ditched her nascent Senate run, largely because of her lack of support in NJ
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Most importantly, she is a pro-choice woman. I agree with Ukulele Ike. The Republicans will not be willing to sacrifice the racist/sexist vote, or the religious Christian vote.
On the plus side, she is charming, she’s a great speaker, and she has an excellent sense of humor. (and Howard loves her) That is more than you can say for most politicians.
On balance, I think Bush (I mean the Republican Party) will choose someone else.
-Bean
P.S. Wanna hear a story about Christie Whitman? She regularly shopped in an outdoor store where I used to work. She can be quite unassuming if she wants to be, and frequently we didn’t even notice who she was until she took out her credit card with her name on it. One day, she came in to buy some hiking boots. My manager waited on her, and didn’t realize who she was. Christie, of course, had her equally unassuming security guy with her. The security guy had one of those little security-guy earplugs in. Anyway, my manager mistook it for a hearing aid and started SPEAKING REALLY LOUDLY. Then she figured out who she was waiting on. My manager was soooooo embarrassed! But Christie was really nice about it, though, and they had a good laugh.
Tom Ridge (PA) has been mentioned; I don’t know much about him, but the theory is that PA isn’t exactly a lock for the Dems, and this might give the GOP the edge there. In a close one, the Dems need Pennsylvania, IMO.
In case no one has thought of it so far, I would like to suggest our very own ExTank.
Got a cite for this?
Whitman’s too liberal and not popular enough to guarantee that she’d carry her home state. Watts isn’t important enough. Engler blew the Michigan primary. Elizabeth Dole is married to Bob. Gingrich and Wilson are both out of politics, and anyway everybody hates Gingrich and everybody in California hates Wilson, which is a state Bush has to win. Everybody hates Lott. As for Jeb, too many Bobby Kennedy memories. Nobody wants that to happen again. He gets his turn only after W. has shot his bolt. If W. wins, Jeb won’t get a job in the administration. He’s too important as governor of Florida anyway. Pataki’s too liberal and anyway too important as a popular governor of NY–they want to keep him there. Powell’s too liberal and probably wouldn’t accept the nomination anyway. Quayle’s a national joke (somewhat unfairly–he wasn’t that bad and isn’t that dumb, but I wouldn’t want to see him as President either). Keyes has no real experience except as a campaigner. I’d like to see him in the Senate, but not anywhere near the real center of power. Mack might not be a bad choice, but he’s not nationally known and the Reps have Florida nailed down anyway. Buchanan has already bolted the party and is just simply not acceptable anyway. Giuliani’s job this year is to beat Hillary for the Senate. Look for him as a Presidential candidate eight-twelve years from now, if he wins, which I think he will. After all the crap McCain has said about Bush and Bush’s refusal to take McCain’s single issue (campaign finance reform) seriously, not to mention McCain’s failure to endorse Bush, he’s out of the question.
My guess is that first choice is Ridge of Pennsylvania and second choice is Thompson of Wisconsin. Bush needs support in the Great Lakes-Northeast area and both those guys are well-known and respected up there. They’re both competent and moderate, and I think Bush will run for the center since he already has the right in his pocket.
Great post by DSYoung, who knows his stuff, though I disagree with his conclusions. But he made some very good points.
Well, as much as I hate him, Pete Wilson did win the governorship twice. I actually think he’d be a fairly logical choice for Bush, and it would just give me another reason not to vote for him! However, I can’t see picking Wilson as a running mate guaranteeing Bush’s winning CA. In fact, I can’t think of anyone Bush could pick that would guarantee him California. Truthfully, I very seriously doubt he will be able to win a state with a Democratic governor and two (quite liberal) Democratic senators. I like the idea of Sen. Feinstein being Gore’s running mate, though. First woman and first Jewish VP!
~Kyla
“What Would Captain Planet Do?”
Alpine
I got both those numbers wrong. Thanks for asking for a cite and making me nail down the actual numbers.
Ny Post
Thanks for the link - interesting article. I just thought that number (5%) seemed high.
I just found this. It is the results of a Zogby poll. This is what Republicans want:
If Quayle had a son, it could be the Bush/Quayle campaign, redux. They could save a lot of money by re-using the old campaign material. Oh, wait a minute. Dubya has plenty of dough in his coffers.
Seriously, I think he’s going to pick a governor or well known politician from the north to balance out the ticket.
Personally, I’m all for Lizzy Dole for veep.