Today the Wall Street Journal‘s Gerald Seib tackles the question of whom John McCain will select for his running mate. He sums up the conventional wisdom quite well, and comes up with a list of contenders that have made a number of short lists. Seib weighs the pros and cons of Mark Sanford, Tim Pawlenty, Haley Barbour, Sam Brownback, Kay Bailey Hutchison, Bobby Jindal, and others. But I have a suspicion that this type of analysis fails to capture John McCain and his vision for his presidency. McCain’s public career has been about a devotion to duty and country, disregard of partisan labels, and completing the mission–whatever the given mission might be. His candidacy clearly rests on national security and confronting the threat of terrorism. While most analysts are focused on conventional politicians, I think that McCain will strongly consider going in a different direction. That’s particularly true because–as Seib points out–there’s not really any ideal candidate out there. Further, McCain may decide to emulate Bill Clinton in 1992: Rather than pick a running mate who balances him and brings a swing state, select one who reinforces McCain’s strengths. If McCain is running as the no-nonsense former military man, who disdains partisan labels and whose main focus is winning the war on terror and fixing the fiscal mess in Washington, then why pick a young governor? Why not pick a no-nonsense former military man who disdains partisan labels, and whose experience and authority command respect?Why not pick someone like General James Jones? Not much has been written about Jones lately–he has spent the last year working on energy independence and mideast peace. But he is a friend of McCain, and wants to return to public service. From a profile of Jones a year ago:
My headline notwithstanding, I’m not predicting a McCain-Jones ticket. But McCain is certain to audition some non-conventional selection for running mate, particularly since there’s no obvious candidate from the conventional lists. Considering John McCain, it would almost be a surprise if his vice presidential nominee was a conventional selection.
