| Main |

McCain's Veep prospects

With John McCain perhaps on the path to the Republican presidential nomination (and that remains a big perhaps, given the significant financial advantage Mitt Romney still enjoys over him), speculation inevitably has intensified about possible running mates for the Arizona senator.

A possible "fusion ticket" will continue to be bandied about, despite Joe Lieberman tossing cold water on it today. But as unpredictable as McCain can be, it's hard to imagine that even he would risk irretrievably alienating social conservatives by picking a pro-choice Democrat as his vice presidential candidate.

McCain, if he decides to aggressively woo social conservatives, obviously would give Mike Huckabee a look. The pair have frequently exchanged kind words during debates, causing some pundits to view Huckabee as actively vying for the No. 2 spot.

At the least, the longer Huckabee stays in a race it would take a miracle for him to win, the more goodwill he builds up ...

in the McCain camp. That's because of the presumption that most of the vote Huckabee gets would likely go to Romney, were the former Arkansas governor to end his candidacy.

McCain did nothing to scotch chatter about Huckabee's Veep prospects with the kind words he directed toward him in his victory speech Tuesday night. Said the winner of the Florida primary: "Gov. Huckabee and his supporters, as always, brought to this campaign conviction and passion and something we don't always have enough of in these contests: good humor and grace."

Still, our eyes couldn't help but notice the perpetually tanned, lean governor of Florida who loomed behind McCain during the speech: Charlie Crist.

McCain clearly got a big boost from Crist's endorsement of him in the closing days of the hard-fought primary campaign with Romney. That's the sort of help a politician doesn't forget. Crist's popularity in a state McCain almost certainly would need to carry to win the presidency also helps his prospects for landing on the national ticket.

Crist, 51, may face a hurdle stemming from his personal life. He had a brief marriage (less than a year) during his '20s, but since then has been single. So much for the traditional tableau of the newly minted running mate surrounded by a smiling spouse and children.

Also on the stage with McCain in Florida was another politician whose recent endorsement was a boon for him: Sen. Mel Martinez. At first blush, he would seem a natural contender for the ticket, improving the GOP's chances to compete for the Latino vote.

But it won't happen. As Martinez himself pointed out, when asked about his vice presidential availability, he was born a citizen of Cuba, making him constitutionally ineligible for the office.

-- Don Frederick

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d8341c630a53ef00e54ffccbee8833

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference McCain's Veep prospects:

Comments

Feed You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

I'm neither a true Democrat or Republican so I vote for someone who cares about my issues. I voted Democratic during Clinton's era, and I would have voted for Al Gore but unfortunately when he picked Libermann has his prospective VP, I decided to register as a Republican and voted for GWB.
I like McCain but if he chooses Libermann as his VP, I will vote for a Democrat.
Libermann is someone I call an "Opportunist." Let's see, Libermann was a Democrat. Knowing he couldn't win again as a Democrat, he decided to go as an Independent. After being elected, he decided to be more Pro-Republican. Amazing, this guy changes positions as often as I change socks!

Mr. Mike Huckabee is the best choice for Vice President.

McCain's weaknesses:
Southern States
Conservatives
Evangelicals

Huckabee's Strengths:

Southern States
Conservatives
Evangelicals
Huckabee won BIG rep. swing states Georgia, Arkansas, Kansas, Tennessee, Alabama, and Iowa.

A McCain/Huckabee ticket is a shoe in!!!

There are many of us who will probably vote for McCain but only as a vote against Hillary or Barack. To get my enthusiastic support, McCain must pick a social/economic conservative. Mike Huckabee would be my first choice.

Post a comment
If you are under 13 years of age you may read this message board, but you may not participate.
Here are the full legal terms you agree to by using this comment form.

Comments are moderated, and will not appear until they've been approved.

If you have a TypeKey or TypePad account, please Sign In







Follow us on ... »

Follow @latimestot for political news and backgrounders sent direct to your Twitter page or mobile device.
Our Bloggers

Andrew MalcolmAndrew Malcolm's immigrant parents repeatedly stressed the importance of active participation in a democracy. Early lessons included learning the alphabetical list of states by watching televised roll calls of national political conventions. That childhood exposure led to a lifelong fascination with politics, including 40-plus years of covering them and a brief stint practicing them as press secretary to Laura Bush in 1999-2000. A veteran foreign and national correspondent, Malcolm served on the Times Editorial Board and was a Pulitzer finalist in 2004. He is the author of 10 nonfiction books and father of four.

Johanna NeumanJohanna Neuman is a veteran Washington correspondent for both The Los Angeles Times and USA Today, having covered presidents and politics as far back as Ronald Reagan. A former president of the White House Correspondents Assn., she authored a book on media and foreign policy, “Lights, Camera, Wars.” Most recently she was co-author of the Countdown to Crawford blog here at The Times.
The daily destination for breaking news from The Times and other top political sources on the Web.
Political blog from the Chicago Tribune.

All L.A. Times Blogs

All The Rage
American Idol Tracker
Angels Unplugged
Babylon & Beyond
Big Picture
Booster Shots
California Consumer
Comments Blog
Company Town
Culture Monster
Daily Dish
Daily Mirror
Daily Travel & Deal Blog
Dish Rag
Dodger Thoughts
Fabulous Forum
Gold Derby
Greenspace
Hero Complex
Homicide Report
Jacket Copy
L.A. at Home
L.A. Land
L.A. Now
L.A. Unleashed
La Plaza
Lakers
Money & Co.
Movable Buffet
Opinion L.A.
Outposts
Pop & Hiss
Readers' Representative Journal
Show Tracker
Technology
Ticket to Vancouver
Top of the Ticket
Up to Speed
Varsity Times Insider
Categories