Report: McCain has picked running mate, will announce Friday at 11 AM ET

The NYT reports:

WASHINGTON — Senator John McCain has decided on his running mate, two Republican strategists in contact with Mr. McCain’s campaign said Wednesday. He is expected to reveal his choice at a rally at a basketball arena in Dayton, Ohio, at 11 a.m. Friday.

Mr. McCain’s decision is known only to his small inner circle of advisers, no more than three or four people, who have refused all public discussion on the matter. Republicans close to the campaign said that the top contenders remained the same three men who have been the source of speculation for weeks: former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota and, possibly, Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, independent of Connecticut.

It was unclear how seriously Mr. McCain was considering his good friend, Mr. Lieberman, who favors abortion rights and whose selection could set off a revolt among delegates at the Republican National Convention next week in Minneapolis-St. Paul as well as a furious backlash among Christian conservatives, a crucial voting bloc of the Republican Party. But as recently as Tuesday, Mr. McCain was said to still be entertaining the idea of Mr. Lieberman, who was Al Gore’s running mate on the Democratic presidential ticket in 2000.

Under this option, Mr. McCain’s choice of Mr. Lieberman would help him appeal to women, independents and conservative Democrats in a tough year for Republican candidates. “It’s really alive in McCain’s mind” said one Republican consultant familiar with some of the campaign’s deliberations.

Other Republicans said they suspected that whatever Mr. McCain’s personal views, his aides could be pushing Mr. Lieberman with reporters as part of a disinformation campaign to stir interest in the selection and to make it appear as if Mr. McCain, a longtime opponent of abortion, was open to all possibilities and was therefore more of an independent candidate.

Some Republicans also said that Mr. Lieberman did not catch fire as a campaigner in 2000 and that he would alienate more voters, particularly evangelicals, than he would attract.

MSNBC’s First Read notes that McCain’s campaign schedule might rule out Lieberman:

The McCain campaign reportedly plans to roll out its vice presidential choice throughout the weekend with rallies at sports arenas in Ohio on Friday, Pennsylvania on Saturday, and Missouri on Sunday.

If the plans are to be believed, it may very well rule out the potential for Sen. Joe Lieberman to be McCain’s running mate. Lieberman, a religious Jew, does not campaign on Saturdays and most likely would not drive in the bus that is transporting McCain and his new VP. Lieberman was known to even skip his official Senate nomination at the Connecticut Democratic convention because it was held on a Saturday, and he adhered to the Sabbath while running with Al Gore in 2000 as well. He does vote when the Senate is in session on Saturdays, but walks to the Capitol.

Ok, so if it’s between Pawlenty and Romney, who do you think the pick will be? Of the two, who do you want the pick to be?

11 Responses to "Report: McCain has picked running mate, will announce Friday at 11 AM ET"

pjean says:

August 27, 2008 at 10:28 pm

I have a strong feeling that the “maverick” is going to pull a “maverick” move and pick someone that was not on any published list, long or short. I’m even thinking that it will be a woman. I’m just not putting it past him to surprise all.
Anthony (Los Angeles) says:

August 27, 2008 at 10:42 pm

Between the two, I’d pick Romney, but that has to be qualified by admitting I know little of Pawlenty.
Lorica says:

August 28, 2008 at 10:16 am

1st off this is the biggest piece of wishful thinking I have ever read:

Under this option, Mr. McCain’s choice of Mr. Lieberman would help him appeal to women, independents and conservative Democrats in a tough year for Republican candidates.

RR did not need a moderate to win over conservative Democrats. This is not going to be a tough year for Republicans either. The war is going well the economy would be doing great if we could just get more of our own oil on the market. With that is the Dems obstruction of us raising the supply of oil. If gas is still at 3.75 a gallon come November, the Democrats are the ones that are going to pay.

I am believing it is going to be Romney, but either is a good choice in my mind. Both have executive experience in states where being a Rep, isn’t an easy thing. Shall we say both have foxhole Executive experience. – Lorica
alchemist says:

August 28, 2008 at 10:23 am

I actually thought Romney was a pretty strong candidate, but I always thought he was a less sincere speaker than McCain. Good choice for the economy. I can’t remember how well Romney did with Independents, but I thought there was a schism of Enagelists/Baptists that killed his campaign…

Don’t know much about Pawlenty. He seems like a strong governor, Pro-Life, small government etc. Balanced budget, but came at the cost of programs like university tuition and infrastructure (some have blamed this for the bridge disaster last year). Favored ethanol-gasoline programs. That’s about all wiki had.

Some part of me still expects McCain will pick someone outside of the box. I think he doesn’t need a well known politician as well as he needs someone to come in and speak solidly and sincerely about the economy (and not piss of the republican base or independents drawn to McCain). I think that independent/Conservative divide makes it easier to grab someone outside of the known system.
benning says:

August 28, 2008 at 10:33 am

Pawlenty before Romney, please!

I’d rather McCain chose Sarah Palin, but who asks me?
Baklava says:

August 28, 2008 at 10:43 am

alchemist uninformed as usual wrote, “but came at the cost of programs like university tuition and infrastructure (some have blamed this for the bridge disaster last year).”

If you look…. (do the due diligence)… you would see that more was spent on infrastructure every year by substantial amounts.

Liberals (leftists) LIE on this subject every time. The TIRED old line that people who want fiscal responsibility don’t ‘care’ as much or were the reason for infrastructure falling apart or the environment or universities which have sky rocketing costs (BECAUSe of their massive subsidies and non-marketplace costs) should be retired.

You can do better if you try alchemist. But you don’t.
Baklava says:

August 28, 2008 at 10:47 am

Alchemist.

Yes, what I’m trying to say is that there was MORE government spending each year for education as well as infrastructure.

So your line about “coming at the cost of” is….

factually incorrect.

Same with the infrastructure…
alchemist says:

August 28, 2008 at 12:37 pm

What part of “That’s all wiki had” don’t you understand? Yes, it was a quick preliminary search that brought up a quick preliminary criticism. My point is that I don’t know much about Pawlenty, but in general he sounds like a good candidate.
Baklava says:

August 28, 2008 at 2:09 pm

alchemist wrote, “Yes, it was a quick preliminary search that brought up a quick preliminary criticism.”

Did it fit your preconcieved notions about ‘education’ and ‘infrastructure’?

The words fit MANY liberals pre-conceived thoughts and therefore when it ACTUALLY got printed by many a newspaper and reported by many a reporter, many in America (maybe yourself included) believed it.

I’m telling you that you could LEARN from this experience….

There was SUBSTANTIAL increases in spending on education and infrastructure in Minnesota over the last two decades. Especially from Federal bills passed by the Republican Congress (wish I had time to forward the links of the research I did last year).

All I’m asking you to do alchemist is LEARN and stop being lazy about this stuff…

Treat it like I did when I was challenged in 1991.

I went to the library 3 times a week that year and had a wild core belief change from liberalism to conservatism BECAUSE of the facts.

You can continue to ignore facts and NOT FIND THEM.

That would be your choice…

Ignorance is expensive for America…. and politics as we know it.
Baklava says:

August 28, 2008 at 2:17 pm

Alchemist… eh… even though I didn’t have time I very easily found a plethora of information on the topic… at this very site which links to other sites…

BILLIONS more spent over the years…. on infrastructure. no cuts.

same tired rhetoric over and over by leftists…

sorry I’m cranky today… hope you can upgrade your thought process though…
alchemist says:

August 29, 2008 at 8:27 am

That’s fine, you’re right here. I guess the phrase wiki used was:

Pawlenty used or threatened vetoes in 2005, 2007 and 2008 on legislation funding proposed highway expansion, infrastructure repairs, road maintenance, and mass transit.[47] The 2008 veto was in spite of Pawlenty’s announcement that he would consider reversing his opposition to a state gas tax increase for funding road and bridge repairs, in the wake of the collapse of the I-35W Mississippi River bridge.[48] Pawlenty’s tax policies were blamed as part of the cause of the collapse by Mayor James Hovland of affluent Edina.[49]

I’ll try to quote directly in the future, as my paraphrasing often comes misphrased in the speed read.

As you pointed out, there’s reason to believe this wouldn’t have made a difference anyway, as funding had already been increased. Still, I was just trying to start a conversation, not neccessarily to make a swipe a Pawlenty, whom I don’t know much about (Although, I was on some level trying to anticipate where the Dem Party might make a swipe).

Either way, early reports indicate that it’s not Pawlenty. So we’re down to Romney or (?). I was guessing (?) before, so I’ll stick with that guess.

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