I will be relieved when Barack Obama and John McCain finally reveal their choices for running mates. I'm tired of the speculation.
A few days ago, we learned that Joe Lieberman was supposedly on John McCain's short list.
Joe Lieberman, the former Democratic vice-presidential nominee who has endorsed John McCain, is being vetted as a potential running mate for the Republican presidential hopeful, according to an adviser to Mr McCain’s ?campaign.
Mr Lieberman, who has campaigned for the Arizona senator, has long been ?considered an unconventional but plausible choice for Mr McCain.
...[McCain] loves Lieberman. And he is on the [short-]list because Lieberman has never embarrassed anyone, never misspoken. The first rule is, don’t take someone who costs you votes,” said one McCain adviser.
If the first rule is not to "take someone who costs you votes," then I don't see how Lieberman can really be on McCain's short list.
Lieberman has been a loyal McCain supporter, but they do have very significant differences when it comes to a myriad of issues.
To pick one: "In 2007 NARAL Pro-Choice America gave Senator Lieberman a grade of 100."
Yeah, that just might cost McCain more than a few votes.
Not to be outdone by McCain, Barack Obama's campaign is floating some names of possible VP choices that would show Obama's alleged willingness to consider a running mate from outside Dem ranks.
OMAHA, Neb. -- When [Chuck] Hagel accompanied Obama on his trip to Iraq and Afghanistan last month, speculation swirled anew that he was a possible vice presidential pick.
Plenty of people have suggested that Obama recruit Hagel, one of the Senate's most outspoken opponents of the Iraq war. The Illinois senator would benefit from Hagel's military experience in Vietnam, they say, and Hagel would help temper perceptions that Obama is too liberal. A bipartisan ticket would also support Obama's call for breaking away from polarizing politics.
Others don't see Hagel in that role, and some predict that delegates to the party convention might not either.
"I think, though it is impossible to predict with absolute confidence, that the delegates would not deliver their votes unless at a minimum he switched political parties," said former Sen. Bob Kerrey, a Democrat from Nebraska. "Even then it would be a difficult vote."
Vic Covalt, who takes over as chairman of the Nebraska Democratic Party in December, said he's not fooled by Hagel's Iraq position.
"He's not a good man when it comes to everything else, and he hasn't voted well in any way, shape or form that would gain any support from me or any other thinking Democrat," Covalt said.
...[I]n June, the Nebraska Republican said he would consider serving as Obama's running mate. Still, he added that no one had approached him about the job and that he expected Obama to pick a Democrat.
I don't buy that either McCain or Obama are really considering crossing party lines when it comes to picking a vice presidential running mate.
It's just political posturing and manipulative. It's disingenuous. It's silly. It's not going to happen.
Enough already.
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