I should preface this column by advising my readers that I suck at predictions. I have, for example on numerous the past several years proclaimed that given year to be the year the Detroit Lions won’t suck. With that having been said, I offer my best guesses on who Obama and McCain will be sharing campaign signs with this fall:
Your Democratic Vice Presidential nominee will be — Senator Joe Biden of Delaware. He bolsters Obama’s two areas of most obvious opportunity, experience and foreign policy. Though sometimes panned as being D-MBNA (he does represent Delaware after all) which could hurt with the credit crises and high rates of personal bankruptcy in the country he is the frankly rare Democrat whose foreign policy bona fides are not questioned. He also will not shrink from a fight, which is what you want from your Veep candidate (in other words, you want the anti-Jack Kemp), especially given that McCain’s campaign strategy seems to be to throw every negative attack strand of spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks. The Obama campaign will need to make sure it fights back against scurrilous charges, and Biden should be perfect for that. Assuming Biden has no skeletons in the closet (the Obama camp, being the apparent at least to an extent front runner not needing to be too bold), I think he makes a solid fit.
I also think Ohio Governor Ted Strickland would be a great pick, for reasons other than Biden, but the Obama camp does not seem to be leaning that way. But Strickland might help put Ohio over the top, which would quite likely give Obama the White House, and generally speaking Strickland, being a minister and a proponent of gun rights, could help placate some of those “bitter” voters in the rustbelt.
As for your Republican Vice Presidential nominee — Governor Mitt Romney of Massachusettes. This is a build the base pick, as Romney placates monied interests vital to the Republican party that are not sanguine about the maverick McCain. And while religious conservatives were at first leery of jumping in bed with the Mormon, they seemed to warm to him during the primaries, especially after the quixotic Sam Brownback campaign ended. Some also suggest that Romney would help McCain try to win Michigan, though I am not convinced of that.
A month ago I would’ve picked Tim Pawlenty, Governor of Minnesota. But that was mostly geopolitical considerations, and I’m not sure Minnesota would be in play even with Pawlenty. Another possibility is Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, but he’s just too much younger than McCain. He doesn’t balance the ticket, he reinforces the grandfather image. Some have suggested former Ohio Congressman Rob Portman, but I don’t see that either. He would also serve to placate the monied interests, but so does someone (Romney) that people outside one Cincinnati Congressional District and policy wonks have actually heard of.
