While the Democrats fight over their party’s nominee, Republican presidential nominee John McCain must make an important decision: He must choose his vice-presidential running mate. While this decision carries huge ramifications for any presidential candidate, it’s made even more important in this instance because McCain will turn 72 in August and, if elected, he would become the oldest person in American history to be elected president.
McCain has plenty of well-qualified candidates to choose from, but he must choose wisely, as this decision could be the one that either puts him over the top or leaves him just short on Election Day. In making his decision he should look at his weaknesses: he is seen as too liberal by some in the conservative base of the Republican Party, he admittedly doesn’t know much about the economy, he’s old and he isn’t the best speaker. So, with those shortcomings in mind, let’s look at his options.
He could choose one of his close friends like Rudy Giuliani, Sen. Lindsey Graham or Sen. Joe Lieberman. Running mates should have some chemistry between them and choosing any one of these men would guarantee it. Also, it would likely put some traditionally Democratic states into play for his campaign. But a combination like this is unlikely because McCain needs to reach out the Republican base and choosing one of these three would only increase his problems with the Right, perhaps even sparking a conservative third-party challenger.
He could choose a popular current or former governor from a battleground state like Minnesota’s Tim Pawlenty, Florida’s Charlie Crist, Crist’s predecessor Jeb Bush or Pennsylvania’s Tom Ridge. The main criterion for choosing a running mate is whether that person can deliver something to the campaign. A move like this could win over a key state that his campaign is concerned about, but it would be risky, especially if he chose Crist or Pawlenty, who aren’t well-known outside of their states.
Ridge would be an attractive choice; he’s still very popular in his home state and if there is one northeastern state that could go for McCain this year, it’s definitely Pennsylvania. He would match well with McCain but he is a moderate which could aggravate conservatives. Bush has a strong record as governor but his last name likely makes him unelectable.
McCain could choose a strong conservative like Fred Thompson, Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich or Haley Barbour to balance his “maverick” image. By choosing one of these men, McCain
would go a long way in earning the trust of the base of the Republican Party that is still a little apprehensive of him, but that too carries risks.
Huckabee has had problems with conservatives over his economic record as governor of Arkansas, Thompson’s age and lethargic attitude towards campaigning would be serious handicaps, Gingrich has far too much baggage that would bring down McCain nationally and although Barbour is a solid Southern conservative, he is an unknown outside of his state and likely wouldn’t add much to the campaign anyway.
Choosing a strong conservative running mate would give the Right more of a reason to vote for McCain, but it’s unlikely to win over the many non-Republicans he will need to win the presidency.
So whom should he choose? Well, of all the candidates for the job, there is only one that is strong in all the areas that McCain is weak: Mitt Romney.
Romney’s extensive and successful background as a businessman makes him a stronger candidate than anyone -— Republican or Democrat — on the economy which poll after poll shows to be the American people’s number one concern heading into the general election. He is a great speaker and a tireless campaigner who is accepted by prominent conservatives like Sean Hannity, who endorsed him in the primaries.
Although it’s unlikely that Romney can deliver his home state of Massachusetts, it’s possible that he could help McCain win traditionally Democratic states like his birth-state of Michigan, Nevada, which has a large Mormon population and New Hampshire, where both men are very popular.
A McCain/Romney ticket is by far the most formidable of any pairing the Republican Party can offer, and with the Republicans facing an uphill battle in November, it would be the most likely pairing to defeat what I expect to be either a Barack Obama/Bill Richardson or Hillary Clinton/Wesley Clark ticket, so that makes it the right one.
Tony Spadaccia is a freshman political science and business management major.
