Kerry Aides See McCain As Perfect Running Mate
The Boston Globe listens inside Sen. John Kerry's campaign for speculation about his running mate. "If there is a consensus among Kerry aides about who would be the boldest and most potent pick, it is Senator John S. McCain of Arizona -- a Republican."
"While Kerry has talked about his search with few people other than his wife, campaign manager, and the head of his search committee, Washington power broker James A. Johnson, many high-level staff members believe -- based on Kerry's past and recent comments -- that McCain will get serious consideration."
MSNBC reports "Speculation is running rampant over a possible Kerry-McCain ticket, in part because that trial balloon has not been shot down."
The Dallas Morning News says McCain is "Kerry's favorite Republican."
Now, I know that McCain is considered "one of the good ones" but with all the crying over Nader possibly getting that all important 3%(!), this McCain scheme would be devastating in my opinion and could potentially backfire on Kerry.
I can't think of anything that would define Kerry as "Bush-lite" as the should-have-been candidate, Howard Dean, used to preach against. If this should happen, Bush's team will no doubt start a campaign (and may even if Kerry doesn't do it), the theme of which will be "He voted for the Patriot Act, he voted for the invasion of Iraq and now he wants a Republican vp. Hey, John, if you want to be a Republican, just ask!"
This scenario is still probable since he may just be keeping this balloon up so that on-the-fence moderate Republicans can see that he is open to their ideas since he such "good friends" with one of their stars.
But again, I would say that this is dangerous talk because it reinforces the idea amongst people who might be considering helping out Nader that there is no difference between the two parties and in fact, they're just one party who is full of individuals who crave sitting in the Oval Office and being the king of the hill.
Surely, the Kerry people have a poll supporting this nonsense or else they would have thought of all of this beforehand. Who knows? For all we know, Kerry is sitting in some multi-million dollar home somewhere whacked out on Oxycotin.