Posted on 07/21/2008 8:54:05 AM PDT by Reagan Man
So it's getting close to crunch time. John McCain by now should be cutting down his big field of vice presidential contenders to a short list of six to eight names. To stay a step ahead of him, then, in order to make sure our criteria and our favorites at least make the cut, we on the outside should be explaining how the candidate should be reaching his final choice.
~snip~
Choice #1. Former House Budget Committee Chairman John Kasich: More and more, the Pennsylvania native and former Ohio congressman looks like, all things considered, the wisest choice. Compare Kasich to his fellow Ohioan, Portman. Kasich's credentials are more Reaganite, while Portman is heavily tied to the unpopular Bush. Kasich helped lead the fight to balance the budget; Portman was OMB Director when the deficit was huge. Kasich represented a tougher (less Republican) district in Ohio than Portman did and is more likely to attract swing voters in that state -- plus in his native Pennsylvania, too. And Kasich's blue-collar persona is far more likely to attract Reagan Democrats than would Portman. (A friend of mine who works in Portman's Cincinnati office building and often rides the elevator with him said, perhaps unfairly, that Portman strikes him as "somebody who was born on third base and thinks he hit a triple.") Plus, through his regular host position at Fox News and his popular books, Kasich starts out with higher name recognition than do most people on this whole list. Plus, he left Congress while it still had a reformist bent and many successes to point to, before it fell into disrepute.
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
Kasich would be an interesting choice but how does he represent future momentum of the party?
I can live with that.
He would be a huge mistake. I would have a hard time voting for him, as if McCain isn’t trying enough.
I like that one.
Why? John seems fairly solid.
I wonder if Kaisich as a VP-nominee would be willing to play “Bad Cop”. McCain really needs an agressive runningmate. Kaisich just strikes me as a nice guy.
It would be an interesting choice.
Works for me. I don’t know now many people remember who John Kasich is, though.
Kasich would be okay. Ceratinly better than the person I heard mentioned this morning on the “news”.
I heard on NBC this morning that Rudy Guiliani is the “front runner” to be McCain’s VP running mate.
This, if true, is extremely unfortunate.
I have steeled myself to go ahead and vote for the Insane Senator from Arizona, but I WILL NOT vote to put Rudolph Guiliani “one heartbeat away” from the presidency.
Let the lectures and the “flaming” begin, all you McCainiacs, but there is only so much I can take - even WITH the threat of B. Hussein hanging over my head.
By "momentum", I presume you mean tailspinning downward?
Far too many people associate him as hanging out with Gary Condit around the time Chandra Levy was killed.
What else could it mean?
They do?
He did?
I did not know that.
More here...
The list from American Spectator says more about American Spectator than the candidates. For example, those they have highly rated barely register at Intrade, which indicates that Spectator is definitely thinking outside the box.
Ditto.
Yes, he did pal around with Condit. Kasich's exit from Congress always seemed a bit mysterious to me. I would imagine the MSM would be dredging this up if Kasich would get selected to be on the ticket, which is why I bet he won't be selected.
I like the #3 suggestion, i.e., former Attorney General John Ashcroft. He has the experience, the knowledge, the wisdom and he is without question, a Patriot.
John Ashcroft would pull in the Evangelical voters, a big plus. And he would piss off the leftwing, BIGTIME!
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