“can you think of any conservative Republican women with a national reputation who might take the job?”
I can’t think of any conservative Republican woman less than 70 years old, and with a “national reputation”, period.
Kay Bailey Hutchinson is probably a bit too old at 65, and also wouldn’t excite conservatives.
I think Governor M. Jodi Rell of Connecticut might be a fit. She’s still extremely popular after 4 year in office, and her husband Lou is a former U.S. Navy pilot like McCain.
Connecticut’s 7 electoral votes are not critical, but the idea is to appeal to women nationwide.
Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska is certainly worth considering. She’s conservative and very attractive, but somewhat inexperienced.
Then of course there is Condi Rice. She brings undoubted national experience, but her association with George Bush is a big minus ( Democrats are already campaigning against Bush’s “third term” ). Rice’s race would not in my opinion take any black votes away from Obama.
If McCain was willing to write off conservatives, he could pick Olympia Snowe, who certainly has a talent for winning elections.
Perhaps there’s someone else I’ve missed. 2008 is shaping up to be the ideal year for Republicans to engage in gender politics.
Better look again. Jodi Rell is one of the most liberal governors of any party in the country. She's liberal on virtually all issues, both socially and economically.
Socially, she supports abortion, gun control and gay marriage.
Economically, she called for the largest tax increase in state history to pay for redistributive education funding, something that even the state's tax-and-spend Democrats believed was fiscally irresponsible and would have been disastrous for the state's last few businesses.
She just championed -- and rammed through the legislature -- the toughest law in the country capping CO2 emissions. This woman makes John McCain look like Tom Coburn.