Who will the Presidential nominees choose as VP's?

Looks pretty clear it's going to be McCain vs. Obama. I'm interested in popular opinion regarding who the running mates will be.

If you think Hillary still has a chance, feel free to say who you think her Veep will be.

I think McCain will ask Romney, and I think he'd be wise to accept. If they win, it sets him up perfectly for 2012. That's right...I don't think McCain will run for a second term if he wins this one.

Obama: easy.....Richardson. I know Barry met semi-secretly with Edwards last week, but I have a gut feeling it will be Richardson. Richardson clearly positioned himself to be a VP candidate when he withdrew so early without attacking any of the front runners.

So what do you think?

Hmmm, I didn't mind Richardson, so to have Obama ask him would be ok for me.

I actually don't think it's too far of a stretch for McCain to ask Condoleeza Rice.

I don't think anyone can really guess who's going to be Hillary's, except for maybe Bill.

We'll see I guess.

I'd like to see a Nader/Paul ticket if/when Paul loses the GOP nomination.

It's going to be McCain/Bloomburg on the Republician side. On the Dems...........Obama and who-ever............it won't matter, republicans will hold the whitehouse, also look for massive disruption in the demcratic party, the 'battle' between Hillary and Obama is tearing the party apart. (I blame Hillary).

reply to post by Sri Oracle

I'd like to see a Nader/Paul ticket if/when Paul loses the GOP nomination.

I don't think Ron Paul is going to take No. 2 on any ticket, especially one with a johnny-come-lately to the campaign. No, it's more likely a Paul-Nader ticket.

Should Hillary win - my favorite but now I doubt it - she'd have to pick Obama.

Should Obama win - which is almost a certainty now - I agree with bigbert81 that he'd pick Richardson for geographical balance and for Hispanic appeal.

As for McCain - now the presumptive winner - it is clear as glass to me, Mike Huckabee, full time Baptist preacher part time politician from Arkansas, will get the No. 2 slot for his part in running Romney out of the race by raising bogus religious issues. I believe Huck and Mack made a deal weeks ago.

I SAID IT HERE FIRST!!!

John McCain / Colin Powell 2008

(Okay. I maybe first in this thread, but others are saying this as well.)

Check out the discussion by Matt Cooper, below:

www.huffingtonpost.com...

Powell would buttress McCain's national security credentials and echo his political philosophy... McCain and Powell are personally close...If he were to pick someone who disagreed with him on campaign finance reform, a gay marriage amendment to the constitution and global warming it would be hard to mount the Straight Talk express in quite the same way.

Race makes Powell a compelling choice. If Clinton gets the nomination, African American voters are going to feel disappointed at seeing someone of their race get so close and then be deprived of the nomination.

I won't hazard a guess with regard to Clinton or Obama at this point...

Posted by bigbert81
I actually don't think it's too far of a stretch for McCain to ask Condoleeza Rice.

posted by Buck Division
I SAID IT HERE FIRST!!! John McCain / Colin Powell 2008

NIX on both those recommendations. Condo Rice is TOO closely associated with the non-existent WMDs in Iraq. And it seems her Annapolis initiative is going nowhere. She is NO Collin Powell even if she does have what looks to be the requisite coloration for this election year.

Colin Powell is drawing about $130K from his 33 years in the Army. I have no idea how much being Secretary of State is worth. I’d think at least $60K. He is a popular speaker and on the speak-for-hire lecture circuit, I’d bet he is commanding $50K. He can do 8 or 10 of those a year and still have time to enjoy life fully with his long time wife and family. Besides, Colin never showed the required sign of “fire in the belly” needed to enter American electoral politics. Scratch Colin.

Which is why I repeat the Huckster will get the nod. Nay, he already has the nod! IMO.

[edit on 2/26/2008 by donwhite]

I concur re Powell. My thought has always been there is some history with him or his family he wants to keep semi-private.

I think you're wrong with Huckabee.

If it's not Romney, McCain mught just shock everyone with his choice.

posted by darkbluesky
I concur re Powell. My thought has always been there is some history with him or his family he wants to keep semi-private. I think you're wrong with Huckabee. If it's not Romney, McCain might just shock everyone with his choice.

Here’s my thinking on the Huckster. Romney was doing OK until the Huck began to question him about 4 wives and the 12 Elders of the Church. Putting Mitt through the same wringer JFK had to pass through in 1960. Romeny had already been his own worst enemy because as governor of a liberal state he had to “go along to get along.”

Now that he was on the campaign trail, he wanted to say NO to what he had already said YES to. Aside: I date Hillary’s slide to the debate in which she expressed agreement with NY’s former governor’s OK to re-issue drivers’s licenses regardless of your point of origin. Like don’t ask, don’t tell. Before she finished her sentence, Edwards interrupted her and then, she caught herself and tried to weasel out of it. It’s been downhill ever since. I have always said a politician cannot tell the truth and be elected. That’s too bad for us, not them.

Huck has no money. Huck has no national support. Huck stays in because McCain wants him in. At this point, there is more free publicity if there are 2 candidates even if one is not even close to being serious. That is why I am saying Huckabee has the job! I do not see McCain pulling any surprises.

[edit on 2/26/2008 by donwhite]

Huckabee would serve a useful purpose as the VP pick in that he stands the best chance of bringing the Christian right to the polls. Other then Iraq the Republican party biggest problem is that they don't have a candidate that appeals to both the Christian right and the wider voting population .

IMO Richards is well placed to be his party VP pick either way because he could counter McCain play for the Latino vote.

posted by xpert11
Huckabee would serve a useful purpose as the VP pick in that he stands the best chance of bringing the Christian right to the polls. Other then Iraq the Republican party biggest problem is that they don't have a candidate that appeals to both the Christian right and the wider voting population. IMO Richards is well placed to be his party VP pick either way because he could counter McCain play for the Latino vote.

YES and Yes. The Huck is the darling of the Religious Right. A humorous successor to the dead pan Pat Robertson. The kind of Baptist preacher who can make you laugh as he tells you that you are going to Hell for dancing! Or for playing cards! Only a born again preacher would put his name on the Bridal List after 20 years of marriage. Talk about another Spiro Agnew!? That's why I like calling him the "Huck." Short for "huckster." Or a "carny" for carnival huckster. You know, the guy who can guess your weight for $1. If he misses, you get a twenty-five cent piece of Made in China pottery.

And YES on your favorite candidate, Bill Richardson of New Mexico. By the Bye did you write to Santa Fe for an absentee ballot as I suggested? I'm sure there is nothing they could do to you for voting up here. Realistically speaking. They might put you on CNN?

[edit on 2/27/2008 by donwhite]

I just wanted to stop in to let you folks know that THIS THREAD got mentioned in the latest ABOVE POLITICS SHOW.

reply to post by darkbluesky

I concur re Powell. My thought has always been there is some history with him or his family he wants to keep semi-private. I think you're wrong with Huckabee. If it's not Romney, McCain might just shock everyone with his choice.

I don't know about Powell. The Army is very conservative. There are 2 critical thresholds. The first is the promotion to O4, Major. Non-Army types check out at the company grade rank of captain. O3. Spit and polish do count much up to the field grade entry rank of Major. Following orders well is equally a necessary attribute.

The next threshold is the O7, General officer. Brigadier in this case. Here you have to be "smart" in the Army way. You must have demonstrated both native talent and the ability to put that into the necessary context of the Army and its role in American government and history.

It seems unlikely to me that anyone rising to the top job in the US Army, Chief of Staff, and then to be designated Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, would not be as clean as a “hound’s tooth.” Squeaky clean. Powell had to be vetted at least 4 times. His wife and family would have been included in the last 2. I would discount any vague murmurs about a skeleton in Powell’s closet as just that, rumor and maybe a “planted” false rumors to stop a Powell draft! South Carolina style.

If not Huckabee, then who? Living in Jacksonville, I was surprised to hear that our new governor, Charlie Crist, yes, Charlie and not Charles, and yes, Crist and not Christ. He was No. 2 to James Earl “Jeb” Bush who served 8 years as FL’s governor. See Foot Note. Although I don’t like Crist - a typical GOP - tax cuts is his only theme in life - he is very popular in FL and it is offered that with him on the ticket, McCain could depend on carrying FL. Although McCain did out poll Hillary by 893,000 to 857,000, I do not know the effect on the total votes the campaigning (GOP) had versus the no campaigning (Dems). Against the handsome Charlie Crist is the fact he is ranked as a “moderate” among GOPs. I don’t agree but that’s me. Don't forget Dem Sen. Bill Nelson was re-elected in '06 despite a GOP sweep in FL. Redneck as we are, we do know how to vote a split ticket.

Overall, in FL's Jan. 29 primary, the GOP polled 2,021,000 votes to the Dems 1,674,000 votes. I find it interesting that the Dems FL vote was 59% female, the GOP’s 56% male. Also, the Dems got 60% of their votes from the under 60 crowd, while the GOP got 56% of its votes from the same age group. www.cnn.com...


Foot Note: I don’t know for sure but it may be that this Bush bad boy was named for James Earl Ray? Or, only slightly better, called Jeb for James Ewell Brown "Jeb" Stuart (1833 -1864) the famous Confederate States Army cavalry general during the Civil War who died in battle.

[edit on 3/1/2008 by donwhite]

I think the only person Obama can choose is Hilary. Why? Think about it.

The Republicans are made of Racists, Bigots, and Big Oil/Halliburton. If Obama gets the win the GOP will be loading up its pickup trucks with the Confederate Flags on the side and thier bedsheets/pillow cases and their Swastikas as they drive to D.C. ready to kill Obama. But if the next in line is Hillary? Well now they have to kill her. And after her its Pelosi so now they have to kill her, and you keep up this line of worse to worser(not a word I'm sure) and eventually the GOP will either run out of bullets or tire of driving across the country trying to kill the next in line.

posted by HHH is King
I think the only person Obama can choose is Hilary. Why? Think about it. The Republicans are made of Racists, Bigots, and Big Oil/Halliburton.

Remember Mr HHH Is King, that Hubert Horatio was known as the HAPPY Warrior! You sound a bit UNhappy.

I really do not understand what it is about America and its presidents that are so often subject to assassination or attempts thereat. Lincoln was the first. 20 years later, Garfield was next. Another 20 years and McKinley was taken out. Harding went out 20 years later but allegedly in a (large) closet making out with a woman 40 years his junior. Teddy Roosevelt who left office in '09, had been shot in 1912 but he survived. Franklin Roosevelt was the target of an assassin in 1932 but fortunately for the world the assassin missed FDR but not so fortunate for Chicago’s mayor who was fatally hit.

Then JFK fell. Gerald Ford, surely along with Jimmy Carter the least offensive 2 men to sit in the Oval Office in the 20th century, was two times the target. Reagan had not been in office 1 year when he was hit but he escaped fatal injury. America is more like a third world country than a civilized state. I attribute that mostly to the National Rifle Association and its goffey adherents.

My prediction (or, atleast, what I'd like to see):

Dems: Obama takes the nomination, selects Joe Biden for VP.

Reps: McCain takes the nomination, selects Colin Powell for VP.


What if McCain instead asks..., oh I don't know,... let's say Jeb Bush to be his running mate?

Would certainly be a good counter should Obama take Richardson with respect to the Latino vote. He'd be appealing to the base too, I would think.

I think it's safe to assume that Jeb's being groomed for higher office/a future presidential bid and what better way than VP for a guy like McCain who's too old to run again should he lose or run for re-election should he win.


Interesting idea, no?

[edit on 2-3-2008 by Rren]

Originally posted by ferretman2
republicans will hold the whitehouse, also look for massive disruption in the demcratic party, the 'battle' between Hillary and Obama is tearing the party apart. (I blame Hillary).

I know. All those ba-thousands of new voters registering Dem scare me too. There's almost an equal number registering Lou Dobbs. I mean Independent. They used to be Republican.

So, CLEARLY, those gay bathroom guys that like to spend like drunken sailors and welcome Mexicans like there's no tomorrow because there isn't thanks to them and Exxon will win. I mean... family values, duh. To hell if you're family is homeless!.

By the way.

Nice try.

No, really.

No, really. This is fun.

Say more.

Originally posted by Rren
I think it's safe to assume that Jeb's being groomed for higher office/a future presidential bid and what better way than VP for a guy like McCain who's too old to run again should he lose or run for re-election should he win.


Interesting idea, no?

No. Jeb is toast. He knows not to bring his family to light of day. He's Governor of nothing and holds his wife's hair all day while she pukes.

Um, no.

Originally posted by RANT


No. Jeb is toast. He knows not to bring his family to light of day.

Are you saying that he knows not to because of their race or is there something else about his family that I'm missing.

He's Governor of nothing and holds his wife's hair all day while she pukes.

I realize he's no longer Governor, but what does that - or the last half of your sentence - have to do with anything? I still say it's a safe bet he'll run for POTUS. I figure it's probably a couple more election cycles off but, for this thread topic, I like him as my speculative wild card republican VP pick. Of course, my Powell pick is probably just as unrealistic but, it would certainly make the race more interesting.

For the dems, I think an Obama/Biden ticket would make us unbeatable... but, Biden may be a long shot as well.

Um, no.

Oh well, can't win 'em all. Whom do you predict will be on the tickets?

Double post. Board went all screwy there for a minute.

[edit on 3-3-2008 by Rren]