Joe Lieberman to endorse John McCain

[politicaltipster]

I could see Lieberman as a VP candidate (again). He might be very socially liberal but surprisingly he's quite well respected by the RR because of his anti-pornography work, by Northern Republicans and by the base because of his stance on Iraq. Putting him on the ticket is no more implausible than putting HW on the ticket in 1980. A McCain-Lieberman ticket might be only ticket that could win 54%+ of the vote for the GOP and end the trend of '4th and Inches' elections.

http://thepoliticaltipster.wordpress.com/2007/12/17/is-this-the-moment-that-lieberman-changed-politics/

[politicaltipster]

You forget that the GOP just need to keep their base on board rather than to have them bouncing of the walls. Most of the RR is in the South which will be pretty solid and so can be mollified by a pro-life candidate at the top of the ticket. The real deal will be keeping the 'Bush Democrats' on board and adding some more centrist Democrats and Independants to the coalition - which is where Lieberman comes in useful. If there is one thing the GOP cannot do it is simply rely on the base - they'll get slaughtered.

Essentially, it's ok for a McCain-Lieberman ticket to trade 500,000 votes in the Deep South for 500,000 in Penslyvania, Michigan and Ohio - but it's not ok for them to trade 1 million votes in Virginia and the Midwest for 500,000 in New York (which would be the consequences of a Giuliani or Romney ticket).

You should also remember that one of McCain's main arguments is going to be that he can actually accomplish some moderate domestic reforms, as opposed to the Dems who have wasted the last eighteen months by focusing completely on Iraq. In essence he's going to say to indys that 'McCain with Kevin Hasset will be better than Hillary with Harry Reid' - a modern equivalent of the 'I'd rather have Ted Kennedy with a pea shooter than Carter with nukes' EFK used to try to sway Conservative Democrats in 1980.