Dark Horse VP Candidates for John Mccain

[Lunar]

Old Opponents:
Romney
Huckabee
Thompson

Mainstream Safe Choices:
Sanford
Barbour
Pawlenty
Huntsman

Mainstream Out-of-the-Box Choices:
Jindal
Palin
Smith
Portman

Dark Horses:

Frank Keating, age 64


Pros:
*Devout Catholic
*Former FBI Agent charged with investigating terrorism
*Former Congressman, Former Senator (where he served as House Minority Leader)
*Served as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, US Attorney and Attorney General
*Two terms as Governor of Oklahoma, including inspiring leadership during the Oklahoma City Bombing
*Is now the CEO of a Life Insurance and Retirement firm
*Outsider since he has not been governor since 2003

Cons:
Solid conservative credentials offers little if McCain wants to move to the center.
Ran and lost for President already

Lamar Alexander – age 67


Pros:
Former Senator, Governor, and US Secretary of Education
Has founded a successful Childcare company
Lots of respected committee assignments

Cons:
Has ran and lost for President twice
Four years younger than McCain might not be enough

Jodi Rell – age 61


Pros:
Lt. Governor of Connecticut for 10 years and now Governor for 4
Has successfully navigated a pro-civil unions but anti-marriage position as governor
Extremely high job approval ratings in CT

Cons:
Not much national experience
Has had breast cancer and need an operation

Judd Gregg – age 61


Pros:
*Comes from New Hampshire, a swing state
*Has served a few terms as Congressman, two terms as Governor, and 16 years as Senator
*Some economic credentials as Chair of the US Senate Budget Committee
*Sometimes a maverick, voted against the federal marriage amendment
*Probably a great debater, he stood in for Kerry and Gore in practice sessions for Bush’s elections
*Pro environment, like McCain
*Lucky, has won the lottery as a senator

Cons:
*Might not make evangelicals happy
*Has been a Washington insider for a while

Mitch Daniels – age 59


Pros:
*Economic credentials, restored the Husdon Institute back to financial health
*Additionally served as director of the Office of Management and Budget
*Was also a member of the National Security Council and Homeland Security Council
*Governor of Indiana for four years

Cons:
*A few minor criticisms of protecting Indiana companies in the fine texts of his bills as director of OMB and whatnot.

[Lunar]

Bobby Jindal is the only dark horse compared to the viable VPs

I disagree.  Fed Ex CEO Fred Smith has had his name on all "accidental" VP shortlists by the McCain campaign and was invited to the Romney/Jindal/etc. VP barbecue at McCain's house a couple weeks ago.

I don't think Jindal counts as a dark horse anyway since he's having all kinds of articles written about him.

[Lunar]

For more wacky ideas, check out this thread.  I'm attempting to assemble a list of all of the crazy VP possibilities.

Well.... I'm trying to choose candidates that McCain's campaign will seriously consider but that people in the forum/media haven't really addressed.

I think McCain's campaign knows that the political winds favor the Democrats and are really inclined to run an atypical campaign this season.  They have been showing themselves to be thinking out of the box with various proposals already (that both candidates use public funding, that McCan and Obama hold Lincoln-Douglass style debates, that both candidates travel to Iraq together, etc). I would not be surprised to see a very bold move in McCain's VP selection.

[Lunar]

Alright, I take back Mitch!  I didn't realize his problems were so significant. I was really just looking at Governors with former careers that are applicable to the presidency.

[Lunar]

Okay, maybe some of the people on my thread are really too unlikely.  But if FedEx's Frederick Smith can be counted for this thread, what about Meg Whitman, Carly Fiorina, or Steve Forbes?

Well, Smith has been officially recognized by the McCain campaign on two occasions.  One with their leaked shortlist (which included impossibles like Lt. Gov Michael Steel I should mention) and one with their VP barbecue.  Your guys can be counted too though yo, haha.  Although I think they'd rather select Smith than Forbes if they're going to go the businessman route from their actions so far.  Smith is clearly getting at least some vetting and has such a wonderfully soothing name compared to Obama, without being immediately associated with being some kind of super triple billionaire like Forbes haha.

With the possible exception of Gregg, whom I greatly admire, the dark horses are all crap and would be disastrous choices, particularly Keating.

Why?

[Lunar]

Gregg is very smart, fiscal cautious and flinty. My kind of guy. Keating is scandal tarred (I don't remember the details, but they can be looked up).

Well, I didn't see any scandals tarring him on Wikipedia. Are you sure you're not thinking of the Keating Five (that's Charles Keating)?  And the others?  I could understand Rell not contributing a lot.

[Lunar]

Can McCain pull off selecting someone like Fred Smith as his VIP?  Like I said, I think it draws subtle attention to Obama's name as outlandish.  But, McCain's line against Obama as inexperienced would have to become more nuanced.  If you stat to count things besides high-level governmental positions as 'experience' then you open yourself up to Obama arguing that his community leadership, teaching classes, historical background, etc. count towards his own experience. Sure, Fed Smith was a CEO and a leader, but my point is that one of McCain's most powerful lines of attack is going to become slightly more difficult to implement.