Posted on 07/21/2008 8:54:05 AM PDT by Reagan Man
So it's getting close to crunch time. John McCain by now should be cutting down his big field of vice presidential contenders to a short list of six to eight names. To stay a step ahead of him, then, in order to make sure our criteria and our favorites at least make the cut, we on the outside should be explaining how the candidate should be reaching his final choice.
~snip~
Choice #1. Former House Budget Committee Chairman John Kasich: More and more, the Pennsylvania native and former Ohio congressman looks like, all things considered, the wisest choice. Compare Kasich to his fellow Ohioan, Portman. Kasich's credentials are more Reaganite, while Portman is heavily tied to the unpopular Bush. Kasich helped lead the fight to balance the budget; Portman was OMB Director when the deficit was huge. Kasich represented a tougher (less Republican) district in Ohio than Portman did and is more likely to attract swing voters in that state -- plus in his native Pennsylvania, too. And Kasich's blue-collar persona is far more likely to attract Reagan Democrats than would Portman. (A friend of mine who works in Portman's Cincinnati office building and often rides the elevator with him said, perhaps unfairly, that Portman strikes him as "somebody who was born on third base and thinks he hit a triple.") Plus, through his regular host position at Fox News and his popular books, Kasich starts out with higher name recognition than do most people on this whole list. Plus, he left Congress while it still had a reformist bent and many successes to point to, before it fell into disrepute.
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
Yeah——the only downside.
Shame not being able to use all of the filth Rudy accumulated, against him.
There is no end to McCain's gaffes. Latest I heard he was discussing the Iraq-Pakistan border. Only they are far apart - they do not have a border in common. When it comes to foreign affairs, McCain is hopelessly stupid and needs Lieberman to whisper answers. President Ford lost at least in part because of one gaffe regarding Poland. McCain makes them continually.
Kasich’s not interested. He has his sights set on the Ohio gubernatorial race in 2010.
If Kasich is being considered, he better be vetted like no tomorrow. When “rising stars” like him and Scarborough and Paxon up and quit Congress for no good reason, I get very suspicious that somebody came up with some dirt.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.