Good afternoon everyone!
John McCain has made a mistake. I understand that the conventional wisdom was that if he waited to announce his Vice Presidential pick after the Democratic convention he’d be able to steal their thunder and, perhaps, turn some voters his way. Folks, that bit of reasoning will turn out to have been incorrect.
Barack Obama managed to control several news cycles by building up enthusiasm for his VP selection. Yes, some folks were offended. However, everyone was talking about who he might pick. Wall to wall coverage, and frankly wall to wall discussion in my own life.
Hillary Clinton stole the show last night, and no one deserves it more. Joe Biden and Bill Clinton will have an incredible night tonight. Barack Obama will bring down the house on Thursday. Fine, we got off to a slow start. However, this convention is rocking and rolling and this groove ain’t nearly done.
So McCain’s going to announce his pick on Friday? There has been near as no mention of this process in the press. He has only a few days, should he choose to delay, in order to build up some suspense. His feints towards picking a pro-choice candidate have gotten him some attention, but frankly its been mostly negative from his base. I don’t know a single person in the real world who would go from voting Obama, or undecided, to McCain because Joe Lieberman is on the ticket. Not one. While I’m sure such people exist, I expect they couldn’t fill up more than a bus or two.
John McCain can only generate good and heavy coverage by making a dangerous pick like Lieberman, Hutchinson, Whitman, or perhaps Ridge. He won’t do any of those. He can’t. The John McCain of 2000 probably would have, but John McCain has shown a complete lack of spine in dealing with his base ever since he smacked down that state party for using Barack’s middle name. That was the last gasp of the “maverick” John McCain. He’ll pick Romney, Pawlenty, Portman, or someone similarly suitable to his conservative base. He lacks the gumption to do anything else.
So I suspect he’ll pick a boring running mate with nearly no build-up, build-up that we’ve made impossible. We’ve been shouting Joe Biden’s name, and the press has been trumpeting him for the most part. John McCain just won’t get that level of coverage or interest. And frankly given the fact that John McCain has been willing to try to steal our thunder during the convention by appearing on Leno, I think it’s only fair that Barack and Joe go out of their way to grab all the press they can during the RNC.
We’ll shout triumphantly whilst they whisper, huddled in corners, hoping they can somehow eke this one out.
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