The Conservative Bulwark

There's a lot of rumblings these days about who the presidential nominees are going to pick as their vice-presidential candidates. It has been established that Barack Obama will decide on his partner in crime by this Friday. John McCain will announce his selection on the day after the Democratic National Convention. So who's on the short lists for these guys?

Barack Obama:
1. Evan Byah - Senator from Indiana
2. Joe Biden - Senator from Delaware
3. Hillary Clinton - Senator from New York
4. Bill Richardson - Governor of New Mexico
5. Tim Kaine - Governor of Virginia

Evan Byah and Bill Richardson are "safe" picks for Obama. They are both considered moderate Democrats from red states. However, they don't have a lot of pizazz. Neither of these guys would make the country stand up and cheer.

Tim Kaine is almost as raw as Obama is. There's been a lot of talk about him being an "up and comer" but if Obama wants to at least attempt to try and shake the 'rookie' tag, he'll need someone other than Kaine.

Joe Biden definitely has the experience angle down. He's been around awhile and has the foreign policy experience that Obama so blatantly lacks. However, early on in the presidential nominee process (back when Biden was actually in the thick of it himself) he said that Obama was a "clean black person". Ahem.

Hillary Clinton is the wildcard here. There's still a lot of very angry Clinton supporters who are pouting in their herb shops because she's not the nominee. Would she bring that lot back into the fold if he were to pick her as VP? Maybe. Maybe not. However, if she were to be the VP candidate, that would galvanize that group of pouty Republicans as well. They would suddenly forget that McCain wasn't their first choice.

Personally, I'm going to go with Biden here. He has slightly more positives than negatives for the Obama campaign.

John McCain:
1. Mitt Romney - former Governor of Massachusetts
2. Joe Liebermann - Senator from Connecticut.
3. Tim Pawlenty - Governor of Minnesota
4. Mike Huckabee
5. ?????

Those are the four that I think are at the top of the list.

Mitt Romney is the obvious choice here. It seems as though he's been at the top of the McCain "fantasy" list since he conceded earlier in the primaries. He certainly would carry a lot of conservative weight and would give McCain a fair shot at winning some NE states, as well as the Great Lake states.

Joe Liebermann was a test balloon. He would have been a trendy pick, simply because he's a Democrat. However, as much as I love his foreign policy stances...he's still a very liberal fiscal Democrat. That would destroy any hope that McCain has for holding and solidifying the Republican base.

Tim Pawlenty is very young and pretty dang conservative. He's very popular and a good speaker. He'd be a great counter to McCain's lack of conservative stances and his perceived "age" problem. The problem is he's already said he's not interested. We'll see if an actual offer persuades him to think otherwise.

Mike Huckabee gave McCain a run for his money in the primaries and has been a fan favorite among the more conservative base. He's extremely intelligent and one hell of a speaker. Huckabee would probably trounce any shot that Obama would have at carrying even one southern state. However, even though Nancy Pelosi has deemed Obama as God's gift to us, the Democrats would attempt to hang the "religious" albatross around his neck all the way 'til November.

Personally I think, he's going to pick Romney. It's felt that way for a while. However, I wish that McCain would go for "the Big One" here. I feel that since he's going to announce the day after the Dem Convention in Denver, he needs to send shockwaves through the country and really make the base stand up and cheer, all the while putting Obama immediately on the defensive. One of these three would do nicely:
1. Newt Gingrinch - Any VP candidate that Obama could muster would immediately be destroyed in any debate with Gingrich. He's one of the most intelligent men I've ever met. A lot of his policies transcend party lines and are at worst, brilliant.
2. Colin Powell - The General would instantly take the wind out of the "look at me I'm black" routine that Obama has going on. His foreign policy experience is right there with McCain's. He would also bring a ton of independents with him, as he's extemely popular.
3. Condeleeza Rice - Would the Bush connection harm her? I really don't think so. She's extremely intelligent and is an expert in European/Russian affairs...something that's going to intrude greatly in the next four years. She'll bring women voters and a few minority voters. I've always thought of her as the Republican's greatest anti-Hillary weapon. Roger Godell is the new Commissioner of the NFL, so Condi can forget that for a while. Just enough time for her to be VP.

Well, we'll have these answers in a few days. It'll be interesting to see how it shakes out.