Free Republic

Over the past days, I've done a few profiles on some of the folks considered likely candidates to be McCain's veep. I outlined my problems with Joe Lieberman here. The reasons why Huck is the wrong choice are manifold. Before today, my favorite of the supposed front-runners was Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty. Pawlenty may still be my favorite, but after having a look at Virginia Rep. Eric Cantor, I think I may have a new favorite. Cantor is SOLID, across the board, on the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, securing the border, imposing fiscal responsibility on Washington and the...

Romney is so talented. But two very rich guy Republicans do present problems. Lieberman is a dear man, but would be a disaster. His support for the war in Iraq and for a muscular defense makes him seem moderate. But on everything else he is an orthodox liberal. He has voted against all our good judges, for taxes, and even for partial-birth abortion. That puts him to the left of Joe Biden! John Kyl would be a great pick – a hero to conservatives — except that he’s from Arizona. Sarah Palin is appealing but too inexperienced. Vitiates the argument...

A Virginian didn’t make it onto the Democratic ticket this year, but there’s still a chance one will land a spot with the Republicans. With presidential candidate John McCain expected to name his choice this weekend, U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor of Henrico County continues to be mentioned as a possible running mate. Cantor is in his fourth House term, representing a district that stretches north and west from the Richmond suburbs and includes much of the state’s Piedmont region. It is a Republican stronghold, with more than 61 percent of its voters backing President Bush in 2004. A Richmond native,...

  McCain Decision Soon   [Byron York] I'm told McCain's inner circle is having a final meeting on the vice presidential issue. It's not entirely clear whether it is to go through the choices again and reach a final decision, or whether it is for McCain to inform his inner circle of his choice. In any event, it looks like the decision will be set in stone today. It has to be. McCain and his choice will appear at a big rally at 11 a.m. in Dayton, Ohio on Friday. Just to make things work, staff and Secret Service and the...

Noth Carolina Rep. Robin Hayes is predicting that Sen. John McCain will pick Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia as his running mate. “It sure looks like a great possibility to me,” Hayes said. “Eric is a tremendous friend, incredibly bright young man. He has wonderful credentials, and I think would be a very good, complementary candidate to John McCain.” Hayes made his comments during and after a meeting with educators at Jack Britt High School. Rumors about Cantor have been spreading in recent weeks and began to grow stronger on Tuesday, Hayes said. Several media outlets are reporting that Cantor...

In 1862, when some of Abraham Lincoln's political allies, furious over the losses at Shiloh, demanded the removal of Ulysses S. Grant from the leadership of the Army of the Tennessee, the first Republican President responded with unequivocal fervor. "I can't spare this man," Lincoln said. "He fights." What John McCain requires in a Vice Presidential choice today is an individual who exhibits the best qualities of an intelligent political fighter. He needs a hard worker – a loyal, principled leader – an individual whose reputation is above reproach. And we are convinced that in this case, the right choice...

10. Inexperience. Romney, a one-term governor who did not run for reelection, has precisely one-third of the elective experience that Dan Quayle had when nominated for Vice President, and Quayle was attacked for his inexperience. A Romney nomination would cut against the grain of one of McCain’s best arguments – Obama’s inexperience – and this is particularly true when placed against Joe Biden. 9. Rommey supporters typically say that he would be good on the economy. But why, exactly? Paul O’Neill and John Snow were both highly successful businessmen, and yet were weak as Treasury Secretary. Why would Romney be...

OK, SO HE'S only one of five Virginians mentioned as possibilities for a national ticket in this year's presidential election. But it's still a kick for Rep. Eric Cantor to be on John McCain's VP list--at least until Friday. Indeed, his three teenage children "think it's cool," Cantor acknowledged last week during a stop at The Free Lance-Star. A fourth-term congressman from the Richmond area whose district includes Culpeper, Orange and Louisa counties and parts of Spotsylvania and Caroline counties, Cantor would bring undeniable strengths to the ticket. A conservative from a swing state in the South (and the only...

This morning, I had the opportunity to speak briefly with Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA), who is here in Denver making the interview rounds. As he phrased it, he's here with the McCain "Truth Squad". Their objective is to "cut through" the glitz and celebrity this week, to highlight what millions of Americans already believe: Senator Obama is not ready to lead. Cantor was in good humor. I asked him how he was enjoying his time behind enemy lines, and he said it was "eye-opening." I told him I need to know if he agreed with my friends at RedState.com that...

So now we know the Democratic ticket: Obama-Biden. We have been promised John McCain's running mate on Friday the 29th. With Joe Biden as the matchup, who among the plausible candidates should McCain take? And who is helped/hurt by the Biden pick? Personally, I think I would disregard at least some of my own prior checklist and take Eric Cantor. Cantor's young (but not too young), smart, conservative, telegenic, and from an important state that is a must-win for McCain (although Virginia seems less important with the news that Obama has suspended his TV ad campaign there, and there's less...

John McCain is set to make his vice presidential announcement within the next three to four days. Names speculated to be on his short list includes Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Tom Ridge, Joe Lieberman, and Congressman Eric Cantor. Most pro-life conservatives want Ridge and Lieberman removed from the list because they favor abortion rights. If McCain wants to keep social conservatives content, he'll have to choose either Romney, Pawlenty, or Cantor. McCain has two crucial considerations to make before choosing a running mate. Could that running mate attack his counterparts with the same gusto as Joe Biden? The other consideration...

Rep. Eric Cantor (Va.), rumored to be on the shortlist of John McCain’s vice presidential candidates, is conspicuously absent from a complete list of speakers at the Republican National Convention. The list, sent to reporters under the header “Republican National Convention Announces Full Program,” includes the names of all other individuals believed to be on Sen. McCain’s (Ariz.) shortlist. Cantor was asked earlier this month to undergo the formal vetting process by the McCain campaign and served as one of his most vocal supporters in the House of Representatives. Rob Collins, a spokesman for Cantor, did not comment directly on...

Rep. Eric I. Cantor, R-7th, appearing in Denver with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, says Sen. Barack Obama and his running mate show a lack of judgment. "We’ve got a serious problem of judgment" because of the Democrats’ unwillingness to drill for oil and because of their willingness to engage with Iran, Cantor said. Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., D-Del. "was the pick" for Obama’s running mate "because of his foreign policy experience," Cantor said. "On Iran, Joe Biden has been wrong. He has pursued a policy of engagement with a terrorist-sponsoring regime." Romney and Cantor, both who have been...

Romney, Cantor, Diaz-Balart, Blackburn Host "Not Ready '08" Press Confrence

Cantor has been serving has a Congressmen from VA since 2001. He is currently the Chief Deputy Whip of the U.S. House of Representatives. He is the only Jewish member of the House of Representatives. Before that he had served in the VA state house for almost a decade. The Congressman has received well over 60% of the vote in every election since 2000, including a victory over Ben Jones, also known as Cooter from the Dukes of Hazard. After looking at Cantor’s record it appears he would be a good choice for Vice President. He seems to be in...

First John McCain enlisted the support of the country's only Jewish vice presidential nominee, Joe Lieberman, who ran on the Democratic ticket in 2000. Now he might tap a Jewish vice presidential choice of his own: Eric Cantor. The 45-year-old fourth-term congressman from Virginia has emerged as a serious - if still long-shot - candidate for the VP job in recent days, though the McCain campaign wouldn't confirm reports that Cantor has made the short list. Cantor, the House of Representative's chief deputy minority whip, is known as a rising star in the Republican party with a talent for fund-raising....

We encourage our readers to circulate this Web page as widely as possible, and especially to Jewish voters who usually vote Democratic. This official Democratic National Committee ad makes a point of stating that Eric Cantor is a Jew, and does so in derogatory contexts. This is consistent with the anti-Semitic hate speech that pervaded Barack Obama’s official campaign site (My.Barackobama.com, over which the campaign exercises editorial control) and also MoveOn.org’s now disgraced Action Forum. Here are the relevant excerpts from the Democratic National Committee’s Web page, and we have taken a screen shot. http://www.democrats.org/page/content/VPCantor ...The Democratic National Committee seems...

In a year that has seemed so bleak for Republicans, John McCain not only can upset Barack Obama and win the White House, he can change the voting dynamic of American Jews. With the Democratic and Republican national conventions scheduled over the next three weeks, both presumptive nominees could announce their running mates at any moment. Among a field of imperfect potential options, U.S. Representative Eric Cantor (R – Virginia) may be McCain's best option, and he is a good choice indeed. Several vice-presidential contenders continue to be discussed in McCain's circles, from the obvious (Mitt Romney) to the slightly...

Though remaining silent over the weekend regarding the possibility of getting the nod for VP, Congressman Eric Cantor took to the national airwaves Sunday afternoon to campaign for presidential candidate John McCain. Cantor, Culpeper’s rep in the U.S. House of Representatives, appeared on CNN’s Late Edition With Wolf Blitzer to offer his take on Sen. McCain’s interview Saturday with evangelist Rick Warren in his California megachurch. The discussion focused on abortion and energy. And while Cantor himself is up for re-election to a fifth term in No-vember, there was no talk about his candidacy — only McCain’s. Cantor, a Richmond...