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Political reporters have long been obsessed with conflict between presidential candidates and their running mates, at least since the days of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. That's probably one reason why McCain's joke in Detroit last week that Mitt Romney was "doing a better job for me than he did for himself" sparked a wave of news stories speculating that McCain was seriously considering, for the vice-presidential slot, his bitter rival turned loyal surrogate. But while choosing Romney to be his running mate would make Washington journalists happy, it would be nothing short of political suicide for McCain.

Sean Hannity will interview Senator John McCain tonight on Hannity & Colmes

WASHINGTON -- The competing tax plans laid out by Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain would both add trillions of dollars to the national debt and could add to the tax system's complexity, a nonpartisan tax research group concluded Wednesday in a newly released report. Both campaigns have asserted that their plans to continue many Bush-era tax cuts and offer new reductions would aid the economy without requiring massive new spending. But the Washington-based Tax Policy Center warned that under either candidate, "the debt would likely continue to rise as it has over the past eight years." Obama's plan --...

After Barack Obama's opening day in Iraq this week, the New York Times headline read, "For Obama, a First Step Is Not a Misstep." The story, by Richard Oppel Jr. and Jeff Zeleny, noted, "Mr. Obama seemed to have navigated one of the riskiest parts of a weeklong international trip without a noticeable hitch." That was the big nail-biter: Would Obama, the first-term senator and foreign-policy newbie, utter an irrevocably damaging gaffe? The nightmare scenarios were endless. Maybe he would refer to "the Iraq-Pakistan border," or call the Czech Republic "Czechoslovakia" (three times), or confuse Sunni with Shiite, or say...

SPRINGHILL, LA (KSLA) - Governor Jindal will welcome republican presidential candidate senator John McCain to the Bayou State on Wednesday -- a state that political analysts expect McCain to carry without a problem. So the question of where governor Jindal ranks on McCain's list of vice presidential nominees is on the mind of many in Louisiana. The governor answered with a confident no about the possibility of accepting the nomination for the vice presidency. "I'm not going to be VP. I've already got the job that I want. I want to be Governor. I told the people when I was...

There’s an old saying that the only thing wrong with tainted money is that there “taint” enough of it. That might work for universities and other institutions that grace their halls with the names of robber barons, but it’s trouble for political campaigns. The McCain camp recognized that fact of life anew this week. The Washington Post reports that the campaign was stung by its ties to Oregon venture capitalist and political donor Craig Berkman, who was sued by former investors in a fraud case and ordered to pay $28 million in civil damages. Berkman and his wife, the Post...

At a reception for an emerging artist, a tipsy friend approached me to continue a private chat we had long ago. "So, you still want John McCain for president?" he said, in the neighborhood of 30,000 decibels above a whisper. Jaws dropped. Conversations stopped. I felt every cultural elitist eyeball in the gallery was on me. Awkward!

WASHINGTON (AFP) - \Barack Obama is trouncing John McCain in the race for the White House -- at least in sales of T-shirts, badges, baseball caps and other campaign merchandise. "Everyone is going for Obama," a sidewalk vendor whose stand was smothered in Obama and McCain T-shirts, along with garb for visitors to Washington, told AFP. "We sell about 70 percent Obama stuff -- way more than McCain," said the vendor, who asked not to be named. Obama-embroidered baseball caps sat in the center of the stand; the absence of a McCain equivalent was striking. "I don't think our wholesaler...

Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) said “Iraq” when he apparently meant “Afghanistan” on Monday, adding to a string of mixed-up word choices that is giving ammunition to the opposition. Just in the past three weeks, McCain has mixed up Iraq and Afghanistan, Somalia and Sudan, and even football’s Packers and Steelers. Ironically, the errors have been concentrated in what should be his area of expertise - foreign affairs.

WASHINGTON — Vice President Dick Cheney on Thursday vigorously defended the use of harsh interrogation techniques on a few suspected terrorists, saying that the methods made up “a tougher program, for tougher customers” and might have averted another attack on the United States. “A small number of terrorists, high-value targets, held overseas have gone through an interrogation program run by the C.I.A.,” Mr. Cheney said in an address to the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, around the same time that the head of the Central Intelligence Agency said one of the most controversial interrogation methods, “waterboarding,” may be illegal...

The Insanity that has taken over on this forum, when it comes to the potential GOP nominees, is bordering on Psychotic. 1. John McCain and Mitt Romney are both good and decent men. 2. Either one being the GOP nominee is a far cry better then the Surrender Monkeys on the other side. I only ask that we do not stray into that Liberal arena of Personal destruction. I have listened to Sean and Rush and I blame them for engaging this tactic in our party. We should never have to tear one candidates record down to promote the other....

Sen. John McCain is poised for a landslide victory in New York's Republican presidential primary, based on a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released Monday. McCain, R-Ariz., widened his lead over former Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Mass., by eight percentage points in a single day. McCain drew 53 percent support in the latest poll, compared to 19 percent for Romney, a gap of 34 points. McCain had led 49 to 23 percent in Sunday's tracking poll, a margin of 26 points. New York's Republican primary will be held on Tuesday. The third major candidate, former Gov. Mike Huckabee, R-Ark., received 8 percent support both...

Usually the guy who’s ahead finds it within himself to be gracious to his competitors whereas the desperate runner-up goes negative and reaches for any stick. So it was peculiar to watch John McCain sneering and slicing his way through the debate with Mitt Romney at the Reagan library. When McCain was given up for dead last summer, he was witty and fun on the stump. Now that he is the frontrunner he is snarky and obnoxious. Dr. Freud, call your office. They say that John McCain harbors a particular dislike for Romney. And why would that be? Well, Romney...

After hitting it in most every appearance he made in New Hampshire and Michigan, John McCain now rarely brings up the topic of global warming. McCain's strong views on addressing climate change play well among independents and Democrats, but most of the GOP base either disagrees with him about the issue or just has little interest in it. He didn't raise it often in South Carolina and, at a town hall meeting in West Palm Beach today, chose instead to focus his remarks on the economy and national security. South Carolina, of course, is a conservative state and even the...

As I've written elsewhere, social moderates and liberals with a twinkle in their eye for John McCain are living in another universe. Anti-choice and anti-LGBT signaling are an overt part of his campaign. Here, via Jonathan Martin, is the text of a McCain robocall, recorded in a woman's voice, that rolled out in Florida yesterday: I’m calling with an urgent Mitt Romney [unintelligible] We care deeply about traditional values and protecting families. And we need someone who will not waver in the White House: Ending abortion, preserving the sanctity of marriage, stopping the trash on the airwaves and attempts to...

I post this on the vanity thread, and have been a part of the Mitt or McCain (or Huck or Rudy) debate since the South Carolina primary ended. I chose to go with Mitt. Everyone has an argument AGAINST the candidates who are NOT their guys...and some are good...others not so good... I frankly understand why some might vote for Rudy, or maybe even Mike Huck...these two guys weren't endorsed by two of the biggest liberal newspapers in America. I think Mitt is the best of the bunch, and I don't understand why ANYONE who is conservative would embrace the...

MIAMI -- The Latin Builders Association basked in the attention of four Republican candidates today, all of whom pledged to pay attention to issues prized by Latino voters. While Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) came at the end of the day, as association members were sipping cocktails, he came with a key guest: Sen. Mel Martinez, who formally announced he is endorsing his colleague for president. "The man that we should trust with the leadership of our nation as commander in chief ought to be John McCain," Martinez said, breaking into a mix of Spanish and English. "This is a man...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Senator John McCain said that, if elected, he would do what other presidents had tried but failed to do: cut government spending sharply enough to reduce the budget deficit while lowering taxes at the same time. In an interview outlining his economic approach, Mr. McCain emphasized his experience working on economic matters in Congress and laid out an unorthodox version of conservatism. After initially opposing President Bush’s tax cuts, he has become a supporter of making them permanent and of pursuing additional tax reductions, saying they are the best way to encourage economic growth.

FLASH: RASMUSSEN Florida poll to be released: Romney 25, McCain 20, Giuliani 19... Developing...