Powell is on record as being greatly impressed by Obama.
Powell, who is probably never going to leave his shame retirement and re-enter politics, actually said yesterday that he might vote for Obama. So I don’t think McCain will be reaching out to him.
I thought Powell’s comments were really cryptic. He talked about how he would look at where the candidate stood in relation to the wings of that candidate’s party. What does that even mean?
It means he doesn’t like any of them. Or maybe nobody’s asked him and he’s just feeling slighted.
Powell is never going to run again, or else he’d have to start to explain his lies in his UN speech. Everything else he’s done isn’t going to matter; that’s going to lead his obituary.
McCain needs a domestic-policy wonk with some executive background to shore up his most-public weak spots. A social conservative to reassure the Southern base, but not a loony to scare off the rest. Could be Huckabee all the same, but look for a governor.
Don’t be so sure. I have heard several pundits on television mention that as a possible combination.
Pundits are paid to fill air-time with words. Eventually they run out of likely things to say, and start saying any crazy thing that comes to mind. You’ll hear every possible combination before this silly season is over.
All of them, including Thomas. (There’s so much they don’t tell you . . .)
But, but…he doesn’t look Jewish!
Governor of swing-state Florida, born and raised (partly) in swing-state Pennsylvania.
What do Floridans think of him?
It’s still early returns but Huckabee is keeping it neck and neck with McCain in VA tonight. McCain is going to have to deal with the dual facts that independents are attracted to his likely Democratic opponent, Obama, and that the Conservative core can’t find it within themselves to rally around him.
It is more and more clear that his choice of VP will be part of his deciding which side of the equation he’ll need to aim for in the general. Choosing Huckabee, or someone similarly likely to bolster his Conservative creds, can possibly bring out the base but gives up on many of the swing voters. Without them he loses. Choosing one of the more moderate possibilities would be part of competing with Obama for those needed swing voters but loses him his fickle base. He loses.
It doesn’t look good for him and the longer Huckabee keeps at it the worse it gets.
Sam Stone The above is what I am referring to.
It’s early in Crist’s term – so far he’s been fairly successful in getting his agenda enacted, including the recent Amendment One on property taxes, which he endorsed, and which is going to starve local governments of revenue. But the state economy is in a slump, and I’m skeptical that little per-household saving in property tax is going to give it a jolt. Short answer, he has yet to earn love or hatred.
There have always been rumors, hotly denied by him, that Crist is gay. They didn’t play much role in the election and nobody much talks about it since.
According to this article, McCain’s smartest pick for running-mate would be Condoleeza Rice. (I’m not so sure. She’s almost certainly a lesbian, and McCain is going to have enough trouble getting the social-conservative vote.)
Rice would be a poor choice. McCain doesn’t need reinforcing of his foreign policy or security credentials, and he needs to distance himself from the Bush administration. His weakness is going to be his age and his ability to ignite the right to come out in his favor. About the only thing she brings to the ticket is that she’s female and black, but identity politics is more of a Democrat thing. Republicans don’t much care what color or sex the candidate is.
The type of candidate he needs is someone with strong economic credentials. Preferably someone younger, and someone who can help shore up his campaign with the right.
One name that’s being bandied around is John Kasich. He’s relatively young (early 50’s), has a ton of experience in government, and the right loves him - especially the right that misses the old 1994-era small government Republican party.
But I’m thinking a more likely candidate is Romney. The right supported him, he ended his campaign very graciously and a few days ago he endorsed McCain in a very strong fashion. He’s got executive experience, and as VP people wouldn’t be worried about his Mormonism. I actually think a McCain/Romney ticket would be pretty formidable. They’d run on an experience/competence platform and it would be hard to argue against it. It would defuse McCain’s age problem because Romney is seen as someone who could easily step into the Presidency if he needed to. It would be palatable to the right, and the two of them would have significant crossover appeal.
Rice would be such a bad pick that I wonder if the Nation isn’t putting the idea out there as a poison pill.
In the same way that Arizona doesn’t much care about acid rain.