...still unknown as I write this. I've been tracking the rumors via the Drudge Report and elsewhere on the blogosphere. First, it's Lieberman! Then, it's Romney! No, it's Pawlenty!
McCain may want to pick Lieberman. He may have toyed with it. But he's not going to pick Lieberman. It would be lose-lose. The Republican base would be upset. It doesn't pick up swing voters.
And I've never thought McCain would pick Romney. He doesn't like him. And I don't see how a flip-flopper Mormon from Massachusetts does much for the ticket. Oh, he'll fix the economy because he used to be a CEO. Whatever. He's an elitist who doesn't appeal to middle class voters very much. Plus, McCain must know by now that if this election is run on the issue of the economy, he loses.
I've gone back and forth over the months if he'd pick Pawlenty. At times I thought for certainty, at other times I thought no way.
But who else? Well, if he was smart, McCain would pick someone like Kay Bailey Hutchinson. She's a moderate that doesn't scare away the social conservatives. I don't think McCain will be that smart.
So maybe it will be Pawlenty. As I've written before, it puts Minnesota in the "more competitive" category, but is far from a sure 10 electoral votes for McCain. Pawlenty is high approval ratings in Minnesota, but he still barely won in 2006 by a 1% margin. Voters in Minnesota, like others, will still make their decisions on who is at the top of the ticket and that favors Obama.
I'm not going to say it will be Pawlenty announced tonight or tomorrow. I'm saying, maybe. Perhaps, though still unlikely, we'll hear the name Tom Ridge. I will, however, go out on a limb and say it won't be Romney,Lieberman, Huckabee, Rice, or Gingrich.
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