Possible GOP vice presidents

Has to be someone to help win Florida and Ohio. Lieberman would help in Florida.

 

Mr. Bastard, no worries. I like debate. And I'm just thinking out loud.

But I'm talking the general election here. For the Republicans to win, they need to capture a good chunk of the middle -- so let's say we're trying to manufacture a ticket that appeals to the base as well as the center. Do we assume that McCain takes care of the center and he picks a VP who will bring out the church vote, like Huckabee? I think the risk there is -- as we've seen on this thread -- too many in the middle are turned off by the guy who believes men rode dinosaurs and flock to the Democrats.

So now we look at someone who will bring home the center -- McCain plus who? When they're not stealing votes from each other, I think McCain-Giuliani makes for a pretty cohesive team. The right will still come out, if only to stop either Hillary or Obama -- better McCain than either of them, they'll be thinking -- and maybe Giuliani brings in just enough of those middle votes to tip them over the side. He's eastern, he's more progressive, but he's still strong on the security issue, and he brings some of the economic stuff with him, too.

I don't know -- I've been wrong before, but I've also been right. I think a McCain-Giuliani ticket would be a tough one to beat.

And most important, McCain will pick someone he likes -- he's not going to pick (exclusively) out of expediency. He likes company, thrives on it, and will want to have a VP who he can shoot the shit with. He likes Giuliani a lot. I think he likes Huckabee just fine, too.

My feeling is, Huckabee would make for a happier convention for him. Giuliani would make for a stronger general election ticket.

 

Not to Jack your thread with Fenian here, but I think the GOP is finally backed into a corner with the religious faction. They stay home and the GOP can't win. Giuliani and McCain I believe means many stay home.

 

A McCain-Giuliani ticket really runs the risk of pissing off the base and getting a third party conservative in the race (I don't know who fits that bill at this point, but it is something to think about).

 

If it's McCain-G-Money, Ron Paul's running as a Libertarian and sinking those fuckers before they make one speech.

He'd take 20 points of that ticket.

 

This could be the year a third party helps the GOP. It certainly won't help the third party.

 

I don't disagree. I just think you have to consider who will be running on the other side: Clinton or Obama. I'm pretty sure the base will be motivated to vote, if only to keep either of them out of the White House.

Either way, I think the VP is probably more important in an election like this -- it will be close, and it will be ugly on occasion, and both parties are divided within themselves, let alone against each other, and Cheney has changed the role of the office perhaps forever -- than just about any other. You could write 100,000 words just on the making of that choice.

 

For McCain, VP is a huge choice, because Emperor Cheney made the office something completely different and McCain is 437 years old.

 

The choices will be important, yes, but I'm not sure the GOP base will be nearly as motivated to defeat Obama as they will Clinton. What kind of negatives does Obama run with registerd Republicans? I honestly don't know. I know the answer on Clinton.

 

Having seen what the last third-party candidate did (cost one party the election), I've got a hard time believing there will be any kind of third-party candidate of note this time around.

And, while the Jesus brigade won't be happy about it, they'll vote GOP simply to keep Clinton or Obama out of the White House. They know that voting third-party is the same as voting Democrat.

 

If Paul goes, he takes his present five percent with him. They don't give a shit. And if McCain and Giuliani are the GOP ticket, he'd pull a lot of the fundies.

It's all up to him.

 

Oh, I agree he'd keep his 5. But I'm going to have a hard time believing anybody else is going to vote for him, knowing full well he's got no shot in hell.

Had Nader not happened and shown everyone the result of voting third-party, I might buy it. The cost, though, is now pretty well common knowledge.