I just read this article in The Washington Post that describes those late August days last year when Sarah Palin was prepping to become McCain’s running mate.
By the time McCain chose Palin, he had narrowed the list of potential veeps to six:
In addition to Palin, they were independent-Democratic Sen. Joseph Lieberman; McCain’s former rival, Mitt Romney; Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty; New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg; and Florida Gov. Charlie Crist. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal might have been a finalist had he not taken himself out of contention.
This illustrates one of many problems with the McCain campaign. I have no delusions that if McCain had been a true conservative, or picked a less risky running mate, he would have won in November. Barring some truly outrageous revelation and/or gaffe on the part of Obama and Biden, the race was theirs.
But the very fact that two of McCain’s six finalists for veep — namely, Lieberman and Bloomberg – are outright liberals is astounding. And Charlie Crist is anything but a conservative.
Given the problems McCain had with his base – a base that he not only had to get to the polls but also excite enough to mount a get-out-the-vote effort – I can’t fathom why he was even considering some of these potentials.
