Obama looking at Reid?

Harry Reid may be on Barack Obama’s short list for a potential vice presidential candidate.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Two members of Barack Obama’s vice presidential-vetting team met privately Monday with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Reid’s spokesman, Jim Manley, said Jim Johnson and Eric Holder spent about 30 minutes with the Nevada Democrat in his Capitol office.

Senator Obama, please pick Harry Reid.

PLEASE.

With a cherry on top?

Tags: Barack Obama, Harry Reid, Vice President

8 comments June 9th, 2008

McCain picks Arthur Culvahouse to head VP search

Breaking News from The Hill

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has tapped a former Reagan administration official to head his campaign’s search for a vice presidential nominee.

Senate Republican Conference Chairman Lamar Alexander (Tenn.) told The Hill that Arthur Culvahouse, who was Reagan’s White House counsel from March 1987 to January 1989, will be helping McCain vet candidates and develop a list.

Alexander and Culvahouse have known each other for decades and both have connections to former Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker (R-Tenn.).

“It’s Arthur B. Culvahouse, that’s who’s heading the search,” Alexander said.

Ultimately it probably means little, as I doubt that Culvahouse will pull a Cheney and select himself. But it is exciting to see the process starting to begin in earnest.

Tags: mccain, Veepstakes, Vice President

Add comment May 23rd, 2008

The Finalists?

The New York Times (yeah, I know) has a piece today on John McCain’s Memorial Day Weekend visits. Apparently Governor Mitt Romney, Governor Bobby Jindal and Governor Charlie Crist are all expected to visit Senator McCain in Arizona this weekend.

Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, on Friday is scheduled to meet with two Republican governors who have been prominently mentioned as potential running mates, according to Republicans familiar with Mr. McCain’s plan.

Charlie Crist, the governor of Florida, and Bobby Jindal, the governor of Louisiana, have both accepted invitations to meet with Mr. McCain at his home in Arizona, according to Republicans familiar with the decision. One Republican said that Mitt Romney, a former rival of Mr. McCain for the presidential nomination — is also expected to visit him this weekend. Mr. Romney’s advisers declined to comment.

This may be the first Times article on McCain that has some basis in reality. Realistically, Senator McCain is probably winding down his Vice-Presidential search, even if he has no plans to publically announce his choice in the near future. Romney, Crist and Jindal, along with Tim Pawlenty are all very legitimate choices for the spot on the ticket, and there’s really no other reason for them to all be visiting McCain this weekend.

Ultimately, I think they all have something to offer the ticket, but they all have at least some minor weakness. I think Jindal may be the best bet in this bunch, but I’d like to hear everyone else’s opinions as well

UPDATE:

Tom Ridge received an invitation as well

Tags: Bobby Jindal, Charlie Crist, John McCain, Mitt Romney, nomination, nominee, republicans, Vice President

13 comments May 21st, 2008

Mitt Tops the Short List?

I subscribe to the Evans-Novak Political Report through Human Events. About once a week, I get a nice little newsletter from Robert Novak that basically covers some news and rumors from the political world. Robert Novak has been doing this for a long time, and has been a key factor reporting and many of the bigger political developments during that time frame. So its safe to assume he gets fairly reliable information.

Anyway, something that caught my eye in this week’s newsletter was this passage:

Will McCain name a vice presidential candidate in mid-July to step up fund-raising before the national convention, or will he wait until Democrats make their choice in late August? A rumor running through the political community now puts former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in the lead for VP. But Romney has many critics in the McCain inner circle, and we don’t think the decision has been made.

Now we all had our opinions on Mitt Romney during the primary. Most of them weren’t good. But Mitt does have his advantages. His economic know-how and the potential for him to deliver Michigan and Nevada could be huge. There are also negatives, mainly the perceived lack of authenticity that helped to torpedo his campaign.

I’m going to post this on all the blogs I contribute to, because this could be a huge deal if true and could be a very interesting topic of discussion.

Tags: Mitt Romney, Vice President

4 comments April 30th, 2008

Vice President Scorecard

Todd Domke at the Boston Globe has developed a system to rate 20 potential running mates for John McCain. In each of the following 20 categories, you assign each candidate a rating between 1 and 5.

Woman or minority
Middle-age and healthy
Scandal-free
Conservatively conservative
Can carry swing state
Record of results
Executive experience
Economic expertise
Simpatico
Attack dog
Skillful debater
Media savvy
Team Player
Winning Personality
Secure the South
Diplomatic
Supportive Family
Expanding the GOP
Proven Popularity
Prepared to be President.

Add up all your scores and the candidate with the highest rating would be your ideal candidate.

Who do you wind up with?

Tags: Vice President

2 comments March 13th, 2008