The American Freedom Network

More Advice for McCain

I’m voting for Bob Barr, but I know that either Sen. Obama or Sen. McCain will win.  In that vein, my thoughts on his running mate:

Obama will put Virginia in play.  Northern Va. is almost a Yankee state-within-a-state, with ever-expanding federal government jobs luring people there.  The presence of Sen. Webb or Gov. Warner on the ticket would seal the deal.  Georgia is in play, too.  Bob Barr will draw votes, though I can’t imagine that all come from McCain, as some would vote for another third party candidate (as I would), or would stay home before voting for Mac.  He’ll hurt Mac, however, more than ex-GA Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney will hurt Obama, assuming that she gets the Green Party nomination.  Green, anti-war and other anti-establishment Left voters will come home to the Democrats, as they always have since 1972.  Energized black turnout in a Demoxratic year will be a factor in Georgia, as elsewhere, too.  Florida and Ohio are must-wins for Mac, and both are in play.

What to do?  Pick Mitt Romney.  I realize that he was part of the suspect ‘RudyMcRomney’ trio of moderate candidates before he became The Great Right Hope, but he is more conservative than Mac.  He may scare off some voters, especially in the South, because of his Mormonism, but he’ll not scare off as many of that demographic who, rightly or wrongly, fear Obama more.  He helps in Michigan, where the Romney name still resonates (he won the primary here), and he can talk the auto talk, which is a glaring weakness for both Mac and Obama.  No one, among the major candidates, can talk to both business and labor in Michigan, and say, “I feel your pain,” more convincingly than the MBA son of a former auto company president.  He could help draft a trade plank that does more than worship NAFTA as the fount of all good; that alone might take Michigan, mired as it is in a decade-long recession, with an unpopular Democratic Governor.  (Mich like Obama, Gov. Granholm gives a good speech, is personally likeable, and had scant experience upon taking office.  The resulting listlessness and inability to get things done could be the backdrop to painting Obama with the same brush here.)

Anything that helps in Michigan might also help in Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania, all battleground states.  That is secondary to Romney’s appeal in the Mormon West.  Utah is safely GOP without him; Colorado, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico are not, and the reliable Mormon vote would turn out for Romney as surely as the reliable black vote will for Obama.  Nevada is especially well-suited to respond to a Romney candidacy.  Add to that his fundraising prowess, and he is a formidable addition to the ticket.  Michigan and Nevada go a long way toward countering the loss of Ohio, Virginia, or other erstwhile GOP turf.

The Vice-Presidential pick is often called the first test, the first appointment of consequence that a nominee makes.  Who McCain picks will say much about how he plans to counter the Obama tide, and if he will be successful in doing so.