Talk Elections

I believe the pre fall from grace Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina would have been a good pick for McCain's VP.

At that time, he was considered to be a good Governor, and could have added positively to the ticket.

However, had he been picked, and had they won, and had Sanford continued down the same path as he did, this would have resulted in the dismissal or resignation of a sitting Vice President, and would have brought scandal upon the McCain Presidency.

Had this scenario became a reality, who should McCain have picked to replace Sanford as Vice President in 2009?   

While Palin may have cost McCain some votes, what killed any chance of McCain winning was his temporary suspension of his campaign to demonstrate he didn't have a clue of what to do about the 2008 financial crisis.  (Not that Obama had any clue either, but he didn't advertise that fact the way McCain did.)  So really it didn't matter who McCain picked as his running mate, he wasn't going to win.

I agree McCain was going to lose, however, my actual question supposes McCain and Governor Mark Sanford win. 

Sanford, the new Vice President, continues down the path he did in real life, having affairs with prostitutes.

He has to resign as Vice President.

My question being who does President McCain then nominate to replace Sanford as Vice President? 

Supposedly, the VP vetting process performed by presidential campaigns would be thorough enough to find potential pitfalls like Sanford's affair. 

I find this scenario a little odd, but I could see him choosing someone like Huckabee.

True, however, as you are aware, Vice President Agnew resigned, due to scandal, as Nixon's Vice President and Nixon replaced him with Gerald Ford.

Irrelevant.

Not irrelevant, but a parallel.  It shows there are occasions when a sitting Vice President must be replaced for one reason or another. 

My question is simply who does McCain nominate for Congressional approval to become the new Vice President?

Joe Lieberman, possibly.

You know, that is an extremely interesting answer. 

McCain would not have to be concerned, at least until the election, by reaction from the Republican right.  By that time they may be accepting of Lieberman as VP.

McCain and Lieberman would work very well together.

One concern I would have though is Lieberman receiving speedy confirmation from Congress from Democrats due to the fact he backed McCain in 2008 over Obama. 

I get the hypothetical nature of the scenario, but Sanford ruled himself out of the 2008 veepstakes a month before McCain announced his pick:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFEw0TNrUd8

The two people in McCain's orbit who he seemed to get along best with were Lieberman and Ridge.  However, his advisors convinced him that picking a pro-choice running mate would never fly.  If McCain was already president, though, then he might figure that he could get away with such a move.

Sanford would have been unlikely to help McCain much. It would have satisfied the base without the drama of Palin, but it wouldn't have caused much excitement.

Maybe he would have won North Carolina, or lost Missouri. Or both.

If President McCain had to swap out a scandal-ridden veep, he would've likely picked someone he trusts who get confirmed by the Senate. Contenders would be (circa 2009-2010) Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson, Tom Ridge, Tim Pawlenty and Joe Lieberman.

Democrats might've encouraged Charlie Crist as a choice, as it would have kept him out of statewide races.