John McCain Vice President Update

I still believe McCain needs to pick someone ("someone" in the classic sense of the term, meaning "a white male," to shore up conservatives) who is between 50-65 years of age. If he picks someone too young, he looks like that old stalker guy who sits on a bench in a park and checks out the young women, much to their discomfort. If he picks someone older, they will look like the two old dudes who sit in the balcony during the Muppet Show and rag on the proceedings. He should pick someone who is a moderate. This is his one chance, if he's going to go down in flames, do so with conviction.

Who is going to be his running mate? I have no idea. But here's a list of the most likely vice presidential choices (not necessarily the best) [Here's my first list] :

1. Gov. Charlie Crist (Fl) - Looks the part and comes across as affable. A moderate and helped McCain take Florida. [previous rank: 1]
2. Fmr Gov. Tom Ridge (Pen) - Fellow moderate with a combination of executive experience and homeland security cred. [4]
3. Fmr Gov. Mitt Romney (Mas) - Would he help McCain's perceived weakness on economic issues or expose it? He's a bad choice all around. [8]
4. Fmr Gov. Mike Huckabee (Ark) - He's not a good choice. He offends moderates but is a perceived economic liberal. [10]
5. Gov. Bobby Jindal (La) - He's young enough to be McCain's grandson. [13]
6. Gov. Tim Pawlenty (Min) - I think there are better choices, but he could work. [6]
7. Sen. Chuck Hagel (Neb) - He's a good choice, but I doubt McCain wants an Iraq war critic on the ticket. Hagel would help distance McCain from Bush though. [not ranked]
8. Gov. Mark Sanford (SC) - As far as I know, he's a good choice. He's a conservative though. [2]
9. Gov Rick Perry (Tex) - If McCain thinks some east coast southern states are in play, he could pick Sanford, otherwise, Perry is similar to Sanford. [3]
10. Sen. Lindsey Graham (SC) - Would be a good choice, but there are better ones. [nr]
11. Sec. Condoleezza Rice - She would link McCain directly to Bush, so she's not a good selection. [9]
12. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson (Tex) - I've turned on choosing her a bit. A conservative senator is not a great choice. If she appeals to women, she would be attractive, but that would be easy for Obama to counter. [11]
13. Gov. Sarah Palin (Ak) - Want to make McCain look like that creepy stalker dude? With her on the ticket, he's one awkward ogle away from going down in flames. [16]
14. Fmr Gov. Robert Ehrlich (Md) - He'd be a good choice, but no one's talking about him, so probably not likely. [5]

A little fun:
15. Sen. Joe Lieberman (Con) - He would be a chic pick, but since when has an orthodox Jew had success in the Republican party. [26]
16. Sen. Hillary Clinton (NY) - A nice choice in theory, but imagine all of the headaches this would cause for the aged McCain. [nr]
17. Sen. Barack Obama (Il) - My uncle alerted me to an idea that McCain would choose Obama and Obama would choose McCain. So they're just battling for which one is on top of the ticket. I love it. But it'll never happen. [nr]
18. Fmr Sen. Sam Nunn (Ga) - I've heard talk about him, but he endorsed Obama, so it's out of the question. [nr]
19. Pres. Robert Mugabe (Zim) - His willingness to preemptively invade helpless countries puts him on common ground with McCain. But why would McCain want to deal with accusations that Mugabe is an election-stealing authoritarian dictator? Plus, he's not eligible since he's not a U.S. citizen. Stand up Zimbabwe! [nr]

Others to keep an eye on:
20. Fmr Sen. Fred Thompson (Ten) [previous rank: 7]; 21. Fmr Mayor Rudy Giuliani (NY) [17]; 22. Gen. Colin Powell [19]; 23. Sen. Elizabeth Dole (NC) [18]; 24. Fmr Rep. Newt Gingrich (Ga) [12]; 25. Gov. Matt Blunt (Mizz) [14]; 26. Gov. Mitch Daniels (Ind) [15]; 27. SCJ Anthony Kennedy [nr].