Four Possibilities for McCain

I've broken this down real simple.

1] Lieberman/Ridge. If chosen, will be meant to showcase his maverick streak. He'll be making Obama look like a wimp, though a moderate. If Lieberman is chosen, it will signal McCain's dedication to "bipartisanship." This is a dangerous game to play. McCain DOES NOT want his ticket to be "more or less" the same as Obama's on being moderate. Obama/Biden is of course VERY left-wing, but there's only so much the media is going to admit and therefore only so much that swing voters will know about them. If the media picked up the tack that "Well, both tickets are moderate...But Obama is the better of them." Like I said, dangerous to play that game.

2) Romney/Pawlenty. By choosing either of these guys, McCain is playing the swing-state game. Romney carries a lot of positives. Mid-west voters love Romney, and Michigan also goes into play. I'd also submit that Minnesota is in play with Romney. Afterall, he won the state in the primaries. But the negative is that Evangelical christians, who largely supported Huckabee in the primaries, will be turned off by his selection. The upside of Romney is that he's vetted, he can debate the hell out of Biden, he has money for campaigning (it may not look good, but what the heck?), and he was the runner-up in primary votes. Pawlenty is safer choice. Despite his more left-leaning views on Global Warming ("cimate change"), and few lesser things, he has the charm to lull swing voters to like him. He's young, down-to-earth, and is sufficiently a good debater.

Romney Downside: Huckabee supporters/evangelicals. Primary history with McCain, can be used to Democrats advantage.
Pawlenty Downside: Lukewarm-conservative on many issues. Perhaps will not match-up well with Biden's mouth-running-contest.

3) Palin/Hutchison/Fiorina. Choosing a woman VP may steal a very good portion of former Hillary supporters who voted on the grounds that it was time to put a woman in the White House. My feelings on this are mixed. On one hand we Republicans can't wait until we feel sincere enough to choose a woman (or minority) to lead us. Nor should we be afraid of our sincerity being questioned by the Democrats for doing so; after all they do it all the time. On the other hand, we want fully-qualified women and minorities just as we want fully-qualified white males. It's a matter of experience and judgement. Kay Bailey Hutchison is the that woman. But, her downside is that she's a boring person. Very. Sarah Palin has only been governor for about a year or so, and Carly Fiorina has a spotty background in leading Hewlett-Packard. So when considering a woman, we have to take our chances.

4) Jindal/Steele/JC Watts. This boat carries some of the same problems as the one above. There's the "sincerity" problem again, and the experience problem. Jindal has only been governor for a short time. Michael Steele is a GREAT guy and I love him, but he has lost a major election for senate, and his experience as Lt. Governor is not suficient. JC Watts would be a great pick, on the other hand. In many ways, he's the best pick McCain has. But he seems to be totally passed over. Perhaps insiders know something we don't?

Seems to me...

Here's a few thoughts of mine on the BBQ-Friday that governors Crist, Jindal and Romney (among others such as senators Lieberman, Graham, and Brownback) spent at McCain's place in Sendona, Arizona. First, this article from TIME:

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1808816,00.html?imw=Y

First, this could indeed be just a BBQ-weekend. But why would that not be McCain's way of looking at his potential veep picks? Indeed, he's been giving these BBQ-weekends for a while now. It's probably his way of finding out the character of his nearest allies. Seem pretty smart to me.

Also Huckabee (hat tip: Nachama Solveichek at Veep Watch) WAS invited to the BBQ but had a more pressing date to keep, his 35th anniversary. Could be that, or it could be that he didn't want to be in the same place as Romney.

One thing about these two other guys though ( Crist and Jindal). I can't imagine McCain seriously considers them. For several reasons. Jindal is just TOO new. I like his resume, but picking him will look really convenient. It'll also amp up the issue of McCain's age. He's admitting defeat on age if he chooses someone that young. It'll also bring up the "inexperience" issue as the Democrats try to make Jindal the Republican double-standard on inexperience.
Charlie Crist is more likely, but not by much. Like McCain, he is known for being very moderate on some things and openly leftist on issues like Global Warming (meaning: government solutions). He's also pro-choice ( but anti-abortion---the Giuliani trick).