McCain VP Sweepstakes Final Four!
- Posted by Beth on May 16th, 2008 filed in 2008 election, Candidates, General, John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Politics VP watch
Time to vote in the Final Four!
Here are the results from the Elite Eight, from the email sent by CQ Politics:
More than 14,000 votes have been cast and competition is getting intense. The Elite Eight saw our most competitive races yet, with Rob Portman barely edging Charlie Crist, winning by a mere 4 votes:
* Mike Huckabee (58%) vs. Mark Sanford (41%)
* Tim Pawlenty (59%) vs. Kay Bailey Hutchison (40%)
* Sarah Palin (54%) vs. Bobby Jindal (45%)
* Rob Portman (50%) vs. Charlie Crist (49%)
Bad call on Huckabee vs. Sanford from the voters, if you ask me. On this round, I’m going with Pawlenty over Huckabee and Portman over Palin. If my picks get through, I’ll go for Portman over Pawlenty as well.
I’ll find the links to the case(s) for Rob Portman and add them here later. Or you could just google it yourself. ;-P The Wall Street Journal has had stuff, just off the top of my head - and I’m personally angling for a conservative economist. YMMV. Not that I’m against Sarah Palin (or Pawlenty); she’s just too new (like Bobby Jindal), too unknown, and she’s got her hands full right now. Don’t just pick her because she’s got ovaries, either - people who vote based on identity politics don’t vote Republican anyway. Picking an unknown because of gender looks like pandering, and it’s just pointless. She will, of course, be an excellent candidate in the future, after a few more years of experience.
Lord Bitememan says:
Huckabee vs. Pawlenty: If Arkansas isn’t voting Republican this year without help, the election is over before it began. As for Pawlenty, he won’t deliver Minnesota to McCain. In terms of pazazz, both bring only a modicum to the ticket. Huckabee still carries the “not a true conservative” baggage with him, Pawlenty doesn’t have as much baggage. Both have executive experience. Both would be “safe” choices but for the suicide wing of the party. Getting McCain in was tough enough, Pawlenty is less likely to ruffle more feathers.
Pawlenty.
Palin vs. Portman: Rozzzzzbert Portmazzzzzzn izzzzzzz borzzzzzzing! Zzzzzzzzz. Much as I have a “mug” factor ruling out Hutchinson, I have a “snore factor” too. Simply put, Robert Portman is a numbers dork and the general public tends to have very painful nosebleeds when listening to hard numerical facts. He’s not a particularly charismatic or invigorating figure, he’s never faced a statewide election in Ohio, and he is a total unknown nationally. This is a year when the Republican VP pick really needs to astound people. We’re not running against a block of wood from Tennessee or a block of granite from Massachusetts. Our adversary is a charismatic history-maker and to beat him we desperately need to do something interesting with out VP choice. Portman would be like pouring ice cubes on a fire. Palin might be new, but at least having her on the ticket would raise some eyebrows. McCain is running against a history-making candidacy, but Palin would give him some history of his own to fire back with.
Palin.
Tom says:
McCain HAS to pick either a minority or a woman PERIOD! It does not matter who he picks if it is a caucasion male, he’ll then lose.
With Obama sure to win the Democratic nomination, it is difficult to pull in an African-American at this late stage.
Therefore, he must find a woman. That narrows the list quite a bit.
Condi Rice - love her, but she is part of the Bush Administration, which did a very un-conservative thing by getting us into nation building in Iraq. With her on the ticket, McCain ties himself close to Bush which would immediately lower his chances of winning to zero.
K. Bailey Hutchison - sorry but she is part of the corrupt Congress. McCain needs someone outside of Washington.
Snowe - she’s a libersl to moderate so she’s out already.
Palin - BINGO!!!!!!!! If McCain wants to not only win the election, but also begin the long cleanup of the Republican Party and get it back to its moderate/conservative vision, a Palin pick would be dynamite. Here is what she brings:
1) Woman - it’s time for woman. She is a woman who can lead, but without the Hillary bitchy image.
2) Conservative - Pro-life, NRA, fight corruption, Christian.
3) Family values - 5 children, loving mother and wife. New little baby boy who has downs syndrome.
4) Outsider - has reputation as fighting inside/establishment corruption.
5) Attractive - YES! this can help with the male vote, just as Obama may help with the female vote.
6) Young - At 44, she is younger than Obama and immediately will capture the imagination of young people.
7) Experience - Although she does not have as many years of experience as others, what she does have is just what the party/country need which is executive, and figting corruption.
8) Economy - She cares about working Alaskans, and this will translate to other states.
9) Catholic vote - The election will ultimately be decided by who wins the Catholic vote. And by Catholic, I don’t mean fallen away Catholics, I mean Catholic Reagan Democrats who love America. She has a Downs Syndrome child and is pro-life. This will make her trmendously attractive to Catholics. She cares and has a selfless streak. Anybody who has a DS child knows how that Cross can way.