Obama running mate ho-hum

While every liberal in the world has their political iPods tuned into the Obama running mate choice, the truth is, I’m not that interested.

Sure, I know the names being tossed around out there. John Kerry is one of the scariest. Joe Biden is a “so what?” choice. Evan Bayh might lend a drop or two of sanity to the ticket, but isn’t that intriguing. And it only gets worse from there.

Eight months ago, Dems were ga-ga over the prospect of an Obama-Hillary ticket, but here we are one nasty campaign separated from that and it seems there’s no way this leftist “dream team” will come to be.

If Obama appears on a podium this Saturday with Bill’s Hill… well, that’ll be worth some commentary. But at this point, no matter who he picks, it’s gonna be a snooze-fest.

McCain flirting with pro-choice Veep

Republican presumptive presidential nominee John McCain is floating the idea that he may pick a pro-choice Republican or even a Democrat as his running mate in his bid for the White House. Either choice would be the final slap in the face to the party’s conservative wing, and might well trigger a conservative revolt within the GOP, including a possible challenge on the convention floor. Such a move would be like weight loss pills in a voter and support sense of the word.

In spite of conventional wisdom, this is a very winnable year for the GOP, if they focus on energy policy and its linchpin role in affecting the economy. Not only could the party retain the White House, but if energy policy and the economy are the top focal issues, with foreign policy a strong third issue, the GOP could not only stave off predicted seat losses in the House and Senate, but potentially even post gains in both houses.

The key, however, is whether the party has learned that its losses of two years ago were caused by abandoning the GOP’s conservative core values, not by being too conservative.

Time will tell the tale on this one.

Palin for Veep?

While Hillary may have dashed the hopes of liberal women for a female in the White House, the GOP still has a legitimate – if somewhat longshot – contender to be John McCain’s running mate, a heartbeat away from the presidency if he wins in November.

Sarah Palin, the current GOP governor of Alaska, is hardly of the shrill, Hillary-like, progesterone-ingesting style of female politicians. For one, she is ardently pro-life and recently gave birth to a fifth child she knew would be born with Downs Syndrome. She has maverick credentials, going up against incumbant GOP governor Frank Murkowski, who she accused of impropriety, a charge that ultimately proved true.

Furthermore, she is a fiscal conservative. The problem for conservatives with Palin is that she buys into the Al Gore line on global warming, an important battle line in US energy reform; her views on domestic drilling, especially in her state’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, have been kept under wraps since emerging as a potential running mate for McCain.

Palin has potential, but comes from a state too small in electrol votes to be considered a lock; also, while she adds youth to the ticket, Palin has only been governor of Alaska for two years, lacks foreign policy experience and could be seen as underqualified for the second-in-command role.

We’ll see what McCain thinks soon, I’m sure.