I have looked at all the McCain VP Choices and I think it comes down to 5...

[Blackhatjack]

Mittens is the frontrunner, but he carries so many negatives I think he will help sink McCain.

Ridge would be the most skilled and accomplished, but he would offend the conservative fundie block on abortion rights.

Sen Lindsay Graham would be a good speaker and appeal to southerners, but he likely would not pull any registered Democrats to the McCain ticket outside the old South.

Huckabee would bring the conservative fundamentalists block out to vote, but he would not do well outside the South and he has lots of history to be mined by the Democrats. He would appeal to the base, but likely repel independents and registered Democrats who will be needed to win.

Kay Bailey Hutchinson would bring the appeal of a female on the ticket, but she comes from a state that is already in the McCain column and her appeal outside of her home state would be iffy.

The rest are too young, inexperienced, or outside the mainstream to help McCain win.

IMHO Graham and Hutchinson would be the two best choices for McCain, but neither is going to give McCain the boost he needs to claim the White House.

[Arugula Latte]

1. Lindsay Graham is in the closet, no?

I doubt that John pander-to-the-gay-hatin'-fundy-freaks McCainus would go down that road.

[Lost-in-FL]

2. It will be Lieberman nt

[StrongBad]

5. Lieberman is pro-choice. Bad idea for McCain to pick him.

[Blackhatjack]

3. McCain needs a VP with domestic policy experience with no baggage... (hard to find among Repubs)

All the VP choices being mentioned carry with them the stain of the last 20 years of corrupt Republican policies and actions.

Anyone McCain picks who is well-known to the public will be unable to separate themselves from this history.

Then consider the winning formula ... must maintain the 2004 swing states, keep conservative fundamentalists in the fold and ready to turn out and vote, reach a large portion of the independent and unaffiliated voters as well as a sizeable number of registered Democrats.

Fail to follow the formula to a "T" and McCain loses.

I don't see a white knight out there for McCain in the form of a VP choice.

In all likelihood Republican thinking is McCain is being offered up as a sacrificial candidate who must lose this cycle so that Jeb Bush can run and win in 2012.

[StevieM]

4. My money is still on Sarah Palin (the governor of Alaska). Romney gets another Silver (eom)

[OmahaBlueDog]

7. Agreed (and yes, I know about the scandal)

Choice 2: Ridge
Choice 3: Pawlenty

Dark Horse: Kay Bailey Hutchinson

It won't be Mittens or Lieberman

[StevieM]

8. Yeah, my dark horses are KB Hutchinson and Eric Cantor, a GOP congressman from VA. (eom)

[Blackhatjack]

6. There is something about Hutchinson's speech pattern that grates on me

She does not come across as friendly or particularly smart IMHO.

I don't see her carrying the mantel of 'women's rights' like Hillary would have --unless you want to return to the conservative days in which women were treated as second class citizens and best suited to stay at home and raise families.