Well, that title got your attention. And it's true. Weirdness is the word for what's going on with McCain and Obama looking at vice presidential possibilities.
McCain is allegedly interviewing Mitt Romney, Charlie Crist, and Bobby Jindal this long weekend. "We're just going to go hiking and boating, and sit around the campfire and eat beans and talk man talk and do ballsy stuff," McCain was not quoted as saying when asked directly if he was interviewing potential vice presidential candidates.
Romney, a native of Michigan, a former governor of Massachusetts, and a current Mormon, has the business and economic experience that McCain admittedly lacks. He's actually not a bad political choice. He would bring Utah into the Republican column, and probably Idaho (where Mormons dominate the southern desert). The only problem is that Utah and Idaho are so completely committed to voting Republican that were no one to show up on election day they would still vote for McCain. Thus, it isn't necessary to put Romney on the ticket unless he could also bring Michigan to the dark side. I mean, the Red side. Barring something extremely weird, I don't see Massachusetts voting Red even with Romney on the ticket.
Crist is the governor of Florida, and would do wonders to secure that all the Chads in the state would vote Republican. His presence on the ticket would just about sew up Florida as a Red state again and, if the Democrats were to go with Bill Nelson, would likely negate Bill Nelson's influence on the election. If it appears that McCain will go with Crist, the Democrats need to look elsewhere for their VP candidate. (Ohio might be a good choice.) With Crist and Nelson we encounter a strategic choice for McCain: announce his VP candidate before the Democratic convention, and give the Democrats a chance to choose or bypass Nelson? or hold off to see whom the Democrats select for the VP position and then counter their choice?
Jindal is the first-term governor of Louisiana, a state that is likely to vote Republican after so many African Americans and Caribbean Americans have been disenfranchised as a result of not rebuilding their homes after Katrina. Jindal was a two term congressman and, at age 36, is still the nation's youngest current governor, just barely eligible (35 is the eligibility age) to ascend to the presidency should it be necessary.
Jindal is a weird choice to interview. On the one hand, he is the first elected Indian-American governor in our country's history, and he's very popular in Louisiana. But he's very young, very inexperienced, and very unnecessary on the ticket. He wouldn't solidify either Louisiana or the rest of the south for the Republican ticket any more than it already is--and it already is.
More importantly from a political point of view, Jindal's youthful presence on the Republican ticket would emphasize how old McCain is and looks (and looking even older standing next to Jindal) at a time when McCain seems to have been finally overcoming the age concern.
Maybe McCain will interview some others as well, and is including long shots in order to show those individuals how highly he thinks of them even when he doesn't choose them to be his running mate. I am genuinely suprised that Tim Pawlenty's name has not re-surfaced in recent news stories. Pawlenty, governor of Minnesota, is qualified, and could be a serious means of moving MN from Blue state to Red state in November. Besides, the Republican convention is in Minnesota: how better to reward the state than to choose a favorite son to be the vice presedential candidate.
On the Democratic side, Obama seems also to be churning out names for the press, even though he does not yet have quite enough delegates to secure the nomination. By talking VP choices, however, he turns attention away from Hillary's campaigning, and creates the impression of a fait accompli.
Some of the names that Obama's advisors have leaked are just not realistic. As I've said in earlier posts (#7, 8, and 9), Kathleen Sebelius (Kansas) and Jennifer Granholm (Michigan) would be excellent candidates, but having a minority and a woman on the ticket is pushing the envelope a bit too far for voters who are already having trouble with the possibility of Obama heading the ticket. And even to bring up Janet Napolitano, governor of Arizona, has to be a ploy to show her how important she is to the Democratic party. She would add nothing to the ticket, since Arizona is as committed to voting Republican as are Louisiana, Utah, and Idaho.
I still like Ted Strickland or Sherrod Brown from Ohio, Bill Nelson from Florida (but with the warning about Charlie Crist as possible VP behind McCain), and Jim Webb from Virginia. Bill Ritter, newly elected governor of Colorado (taking office in 2006), and Ken Salazar, senator from Colorado, are two favorite-son possibilities with the party having its convention this summer in Denver. Salazar, by the bye, is in the middle of his first term, and is one of three Hispanic memers of the senate.
Colorado has nine electoral votes, four more than Bill Richardson could bring from New Mexico, only one less than Minnesota's ten. Salazar or Ritter might be a way to counteract the potential loss of Minnesota were Pawlenty to be McCain's running mate, and might have the added advantage of putting some other Rocky Mountain states in play. Jim Webb might bring Virginia's thirteen electoral votes to the Blue side. Florida (27 electoral votes) and Ohio (20 electoral votes) are still the large states very much up for grabs, though I expect Michigan (17 electoral votes) and Pennsylvania (21 electoral votes) to be major battlegrounds as well.
Enough to think about for the time being. Have a wonderful long weekend, good people, and remember: when you retire, every day is a wonderful long weekend.
--triton--
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