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I can hope, however.

I would vote and give money to a McCain ticket with Cantor. Fly people around on the company plane, that sort of thing.

If it’s Romney -— I’d give money and time third party. The lesser of two evils is not sufficiently lesser to prevent me from hoping to get a third party going.

(And no, not worried about judges. Anyone dumb enough to be fooled by Romney is dumb enough to put another Souter on the Supreme Court.)

Anyone dumb enough to be fooled by Romney is dumb enough to put another Souter on the Supreme Court.

Agreed. I had suggested earlier that the name was being floated because that's what campaigns do. I will also state that I believe he would be a good choice.

People like me who are primarily social values voters would take an observant Jew who doesn't shed his identity at the door over an observant Jew who does (Lieberman) or a member of any other socially conservative religion who acts against what should be core beliefs that apply to everybody. (Keeping kosher doesn't apply to everybody, nor does abstaining from meat on Fridays during Lent. Though shalt not kill, on the other hand, is a universal.) I would be happy to support Jeff Flake over a Romney type.

Cantor also has another advantage, he would NOT be the "first" Jewish VP candidate. There is a legitimate political fear that picking a "first" can sometimes be seen as a sideshow and be a distraction. It can also be viewed as a sign of desperation. Lieberman nether helped nor hurt Gore in 2000 very much. Cantor being Jewish would be a part of the story, but would make serious waves with none except some fringe types on both sides, and a few of those fence sitting secular Jews who are leery of McCain and nervous about Obama. Some of the anti-Christian style attacks would be somewhat blunted, and would sound as silly as Dawkins calling Ben Stein's movie a work of Right Wing Christian zealotry (or something to that effect, or it might have been Hitchens, they morph into one for me).

In a more literate era, I would say that a mere Rep with a Senator would be a weak play (Kemp was also HUD Sec.). These days, I don't think it's that big a deal, especially as McCain's experience is not questioned.

Trumping all of that for me is that Cantor is solidly pro-life. McCain's voting record isn't bad, but he seems uncomfortable on the issue. Cantor hung with the president on embryonic stem cell research, and that tells me he's the real deal.

Selecting Cantor tells people like me that maybe McCain would welcome my vote after all.