Posted on 02/08/2008 1:49:32 PM PST by NormsRevenge
NORFOLK, Va. - On his first full day as the likely Republican presidential nominee, John McCain fended off discussion of specific potential running mates but made clear he sees no requirement to pick someone from a different region.
"I don't want to in any way sidestep the candidacy of Governor Huckabee," McCain said told reporters here before flying off to Wichita, Kan., and Seattle. "He's in this race, and for me to dismiss him would be inappropriate and unrealistic."
Nevertheless, the Arizona senator did offer his view that regionally balanced tickets may be a thing of the past. Since McCain's chief rival Mitt Romney suspended his campaign Thursday, some party figures and commentators have suggested McCain might select Mike Huckabee as a vice presidential nominee to benefit from the Arkansas governor's proven appeal in the South, where McCain has less support.
"From a practical standpoint, I think former President Clinton and Vice President Gore showed us you don't have to be regionally different," McCain said. "I think America is such that, quote, regional differences don't play the role that maybe they did in earlier times." Clinton, who was Arkansas governor, and Sen. Al Gore of Tennessee made the first national ticket entirely from the South.
"The fundamental principle behind any selection of a running mate would be whether that person is fully prepared to take over and shares your values, your principles, your philosophy and your priorities," McCain said.
A day after a conciliatory speech to conservative activists, many of whom distrust him, McCain acknowledged to reporters, "I know that we have a lot of work to do to unite the party."
He held a morning round-table discussion on national security in the Navy town of Norfolk, Va., and the one-time Vietnam prisoner of war stuck to military issues, which have helped him make inroads with his conservative critics.
McCain said it shouldn't be difficult to expand the U.S. military despite a shortfall in recruitment.
"The military is much smaller than it was at the time of the first Gulf War, and we are a country of 300 million people, so to somehow think we can't recruit and retain an all-volunteer force flies in the face of history," McCain said.
Asked at a news conference afterward about Democratic contenders Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton, McCain said: "They want to set a date for withdrawal from Iraq that I believe would have catastrophic consequences."
"I believe al-Qaida would trumpet to the world they defeated the United States of America, and I believe, therefore, they would try to follow us home. There would be catastrophic consequences in the region, and we would be back."
"That is going to be, I think, a major issue in this campaign."
Later in Wichita, Kan., he called the difference on these issues "as stark a difference as any contest we've ever had, and I am proud to carry the banner of a conservative Republican, with a record of conservative thought and voting into this election in November."
You need to make that your tagline....LOL
My sentiments also. The only distant chance of me voting for McCain is Duncan Hunter as VP (I DID say distant). McCain's too old for the job - look how it has aged the younger guys. Add in the toll imprisonment has taken on his body and tell me he will live four years in that pressure cooker environment. Ghoulish I know, but that's the way I see it.
Right now it looks like the Constitution Party for me but I'm open to any plan to conservatives voting en masse for some other Third party candidate.
Well...I guess Margaret Thatcher does look and act YOUNGER than McCain.....LOL!
Never say never though - there's bipartisan support for the Granholm-Schwarzenegger Amendment.
Then who would put Huckabee in his place?
Huck's running for VP and is going to end up Charlie Brown to McCain's Lucy.
And it really makes me squeal when I see Biblebelter wrote ... Expecting something sincere and nice and whamo, fire comes pouring out. Ironic and very, very funny.
I cant believe McCain would be that stupid.
Too gay.
Johnny will give him a chick job, like Secretary of Education or something.
I think SC Governor Mark Sanford would be an excellent pick, and though I have doubts about McCain I could support a McCain/Sanford ticket as enthusiastically as I've ever supported anyone.
I believe Sanford supported McCain in 2000 and probably has a good relationship with him, so he's not an unlikely pick. Conservatives might do well to unite behind Sanford and push McCain to select him.
Romney reallly helped out McCain here. If Romney had stayed in, McCain would have need Huckabee’s continued interference to guarantee a win. He probably would have had to give Huck the VP slot, in exchange for his delegates.
As it is, he will likely win without having to buy delegates from anyone, and can choose whatever VP he wants. I can’t help but suspect that Romney’s early withdrawal was intended to take the VP slot away from Huck. :-)
I agree. Let's be realistic here; John McCain may be many things, but he's not retarded. He knows he needs a young, charismatic, solid -- but not "scary" -- conservative.
We all know that *in the short run,* McCain is a heck of a lot better than Obama or Hillary. The argument to sit out is that in the long run, it will be better to rebuild the party instead of driving down the path of liberalism. But, if McCain picks a young conservative, we have a conservative as heir apparent to the party in 2012.
The math now becomes different. We now will have two options: We can have a moderate liberal President for 4 years, followed by a strong conservative heading the GOP ticket in 2012, or we can have a staunch liberal President for 4 years, and take our chances that we won't get stuck with another RINO in 2012.
If I'm enthusiastic about McCain's VP AND his VP is somebody who could win in 2012, I will definitely vote McCain in November. If I don't like McCain's VP (like, if he picks Lieberman), I definitely will NOT vote McCain. (Same math as above, except now we're guaranteed another RINO or worse in 2012). McCain knows this will be true of most solid conservatives.
Of the names most commonly bandied about, Mark Sanford seems to best fit that mold. JC Watts would be good except 1) he's probably not interested and 2) if Obama wins, picking Watts will probably be viewed as pandering.
John Kerry? Maybe he's not old enough...
I don't care who he picks either since I wouldn't vote for him if he put me on the ticket, but since he's not interested in geographical balance, doesn't seem to think he needs southern states, and is hunting for a clone, maybe his shadow Chuck Hagel would do. Unless Hagel has a better offer from Bloomy.
He’s going to choose Liebermann, and ensure perhaps the largest landslide in electoral politics since 1984.
Sadly this time around, the communists are going to win.
“Vote conservative in 2008”
God, I’d love to. Do you know of any that are running?
“If it is Grahm, he won’t announce it until the convention because I’m pretty sure that Grahm is gay. The left won’t have any qualms about throwing that out in the press to discourage conservative voters.”
If you think it would take his perverted sexual desires to get conservatives to stay home, then you must not know about his work behind the scenes of the amnesty bill or the gang of 14.
That should be the next FR poll, “If Juan selects Joe Liebermann as his VP, does that make you more or less likely to vote this year?”
We need one page of these that are fronts and, one page of these for the backs, that we can print and cut, to fill the prepaid envelopes from the RNC and the ACU.There will be a price to pay for supporting McCain.
We can vote conservative on Senate and House primary seats, and vote for anyone other than McCain on the Presidential seat, including a democrat in the general election.
I could care less about “geographic” balance. IMO, he needs to pick a VEEP that will bring a little Conservative balance to the ticket; i.e. Fred Thompson, Duncan Hunter or Newt Gingrich.
Whatcha wanna bet he chooses someone like Charlie Crist of FL, Rudy Giuliani of NY or even Joseph Lieberman, (I-CT) for his running mate.
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