McCain’s VP Possibilities: Meet the Three Women Making the Shortlist

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There has been chitter-chatter echoing from GOP meeting rooms across the nation over the past couple of weeks specifically regarding the available options John McCain has in regards to selecting a vice Presidential running mate. There has been those who stress the importance of picking a younger face, to countering his “age” problem, then there are those who stress the necessity of bringing a stark conservative, to help McCain with the far right - a group that remains weary of the Arizona Senator. Then there are those who say he needs to select a woman, which would subsequently help win over the bitter Clinton supporters who vow not to support Obama.

For those preaching that McCain needs to bring aboard a younger face, with the purpose of quelling the doubts one may have regarding McCain’s age (he’s 76 years old.) While the rational behind this strategy is definitely well intentioned, you have to more importantly look at the possibilities McCain would have to choose from. First there is Tim Pawlenty, the up an coming Governor of Minnesota. While Pawlenty is undoubtedly a rising star within the GOP ranks he simply doesn’t have the name recognition that would provide the level of impact McCain would need if he opted for a “younger” running mate.

And then of course there is Bobby Jindal, the Republican’s “boy wonder”, and current Louisiana Governor. On the surface Jindal appears to be the best thing thats happened too Louisiana’s historically “crooked as a question mark” state legislature in, well - ever. However, the recent surfacing of Jindal’s startling past - which includes a bizarre, and somewhat disturbing attempt at performing an exorcism on a crush of his in college, Jindal simply would bring too much “baggage”, while not harnessing enough of an upside too counteract it.

And that’s about it, Pawlenty and Jindal are the only realistic possibilities that could fit the bill if in fact McCain opted for the “younger” running mate startegy. However I really just don’t see it happening, for the reasons I pointed out above. With that avenue traveled, let’s take a look at the other possibilities for McCain, in terms of possible female running mates - which I would think would be his best bet, both electorally and politically:

“While the vice presidential slot may be John McCain’s best means of wooing those Hillary Rodham Clinton supporters who remain loath to embrace Barack Obama, the Republican party is a thin source of politically viable women, leaving McCain with few top-tier options.”

“The most-mentioned potential running mates former Republican candidate and Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty are all men. Yet no clear front-runner has emerged, and there are at least three women McCain might select to fill out the ticket. All three would mark a symbolic turn away from Vice President Dick Cheney, the ultimate D.C. old-boys-club insider.”

So who are the women that could fill the shoes of a VP running mate? Where are they from, where do they stand in terms of policy platforms? What type of experience do they have? All these are good questions, and that’s why we are going to take a look at the women who are being considered for the Republican VP slot:

1) Sarah Palin - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin may be nationally unknown, but in her state she is nothing short of a political phenomenon. Palin, 44, would add youth to the GOP ticket. As governor she has shown a willingness to veto some of the state’s large capital projects, no small plus for fiscal conservatives. But it’s her personal biography, which excites social conservatives, and reformist background that might most appeal to McCain.

She’s stridently anti-abortion, and recently brought to term her fifth child who she knew would have Down syndrome. A hunter, fisher and family woman with a rapid professional rise, Palin is a natural for Republican framing.

As governor, she’s continued challenging the state’s powers that be, even winning tax increases on oil companies’ profits. Her approval rating has soared as high as 90 percent, making her one of America’s most popular governors.

But several top Republican Party leaders, who asked that their names be withheld so they could speak frankly about vice presidential options, said that Palin remains out of the top tier for now. Too unknown and inexperienced,” said one GOP insider. Others pointed out that she is not only based far from the continental 48 and in a state with just three electoral votes that should already be in the bag for the GOP but also has no foreign policy credentials or experience.

2) Carly Fiorina - She presently serves as the chair of the organization tasked by the Republican National Committee with preparing the party’s crucial get-out-the-vote operation. It’s no symbolic post, but a crucial position for a party facing an uphill presidential contest.

Along with eBay.com CEO Meg Whitman who has also been brought up occasionally as a long-shot GOP vice presidential prospect Fiorina is one of the most prominent female executives of the last decade.

Grover Norquist, a fiscal conservative leader and longtime party organizer, touts Fiorina’s economic and executive bonafides but labeled her a dark horse” vice presidential prospect. One Republican state party chairman said, everybody would be very pleasantly surprised with her” before adding that the danger is that she hasn’t been vetted” a concern echoed by several GOP insiders.

These insiders also expressed concern that adding her to the ticket would do little to galvanize social conservatives, some of whom still view McCain with suspicion and antipathy. While McCain has criticized excessive executive salaries, Obama spokesman Bill Burton has already issued a statement pointing out that she presided over thousands of layoffs at Hewlett-Packard while receiving a $21 million severance package” when she was fired by the company’s board of directors in 2005.

3) Kay Bailey Hutchison - Last week Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, the longest-tenured female Republican senator, joined McCain for a fundraising sprint in the Lone Star state. Hutchison, who until recently headed the Senate Republican Conference, now serves as chairwoman of the Republican Policy Committee, two top Beltway party posts.

In Texas, where she has been comfortably reelected, one Republican strategist notes that she’s proven she can get scores of Hispanics in a huge state surrogate.”

But despite her popularity in the state and in the party and her years of experience, insiders are skeptical she’ll be selected. Like Alaska, Texas is already a solidly Republican state in presidential races. And adding Hutchison who supports embryonic stem cell research and is relatively moderate on abortion (she is against outlawing the procedure, though she also opposes federal funding for it) to the ticket would also alienate some social conservatives.

And then there’s the energy problem. Hutchison has long been a defender of Big Oil, which may make political sense locally but could prove a liability in a national race at a time when oil companies are enjoying record profits even as Americans pay record amounts at the pump.

There you have it, the three women in the running for the Republican vice President position for the upcoming ‘08 election. While each one has their own individual “upsides” and “downsides”, it gets to a point where you have to weigh the two against each other and make a selection based on whose pros outweigh their cons - Because who are we kidding, in this day and age there is no one, Republican or Democrat, who could possibly be selected as a VP that’s invincible, in terms of political baggage.

Everyone, both man and woman, in the running will have either a “vote” made ten years ago, or a one time stance regarding any number of hot button issues that leave them open to at least some level of scrutiny - that’s simply how politics in the age of 24/7 news networks, youtube, and the blogs works.

The trick is too pick the one who can handle the scrutiny, while at the same time adding something that had formerly been lacking too the ticket (usually the prospects of carrying a toss up state seem to factor into the decision.) So it will be interesting, to say the least, to watch this process proceed on, and within the next 5-7 weeks finally learn who the candidates felt offered the biggest “upside” as they announce their selections.

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