There is a good chance that McCain will throw another Hail Mary pass by next week. Other diarists on KOS are expressing this idea as well. My Republican sister in law even thinks this. McCain's numbers are sinking. Then again, he may stick to the plan to the bitter end. I think that one of 2 things will be tried to distract voters:
- Replace Sarah Palin with Bobby Jindal, Michael Steele, Meg Whitman or Rudy Gulliani
- Catch Osama Bin Laden or some other big terrorist thing.
Point 1 - Replacing Sarah Palin and the next media "bounce" gamble.
Another Hail Mary Pass is needed for the GOP. McCain is a gambling man and likes to play craps. A craps player will gamble to the bitter end.
Here is some evidence regarding the Palin drop out idea as diaried by other here on KOS:
The Campaign cancelled appearances in 4 states,
CA fundraisers cancelled
WA fundraisers cancelled
Palin Dumped from Iran Rally
Cancels 9/18 VA Rally
Cancels Sunday Miami Rally due to weather - 30% chance of rain
Cancelled WY visit to go to UN
Tampa Visit Cancelled for second time
Both her and her husband have also decided to defy and refuse to testify in the Alaska "Trooper-gate" scandal. All the polls show Obama pulling ahead again. The press is finally doing its job and digging up the truth on McCain, Palin and the economic news is not helping the GOP.
The way Palin will exit would be to say that she talked it over with her family and she needs to take care of the kids and the press pressure has been "vicious" against her family and she wants to protect them etc etc.
If Palin goes, the press will go with wall to wall coverage of that and McCain will hope the distraction will bewilder voters. The timing needs to be close to the end of the month so that the "bounce" can spill over to the early voting and absentee balloting that starts this week and next week in several states as it took the press about 2 weeks to muddle through and deal with the last distraction ( Palin ), it will be the same with any other pick.
The pick McCain chooses for VP has to be more of a political, image, news cycle generating, race, gender, ideology or celebrity pick rather than competant experience or it will expose McCain's poor judgment in the first place. He needs a pick that will generate tons of press and "hype" coverage and befuddle the "TV Nation" that we have become..
Bobby Jindal - Young, reasonably good looking, non-white Republican Governor of Louisiana. Conservative of East Indian / Asian heritage, dark skinned, obviously he looks like a minority. Keeps the fake "change" meme going as a counterweight to Obama and Jindal is a capable governor. One of the best choices left in the GOP. Still light on experience as he is in his first term as governor, but thats OK, since Palin was a lightweight too.
Michael Steele - Young, good looking, black african american, Republican ex-lieutenant governor of Maryland. Former business man. A true Hail Mary Pass. Keeps the fake "change" meme going. This is the guy who started the "Drill Baby Drill" line at the convention. I have had business meetings in the past with him over several days and got to know him and he is quite intelligent and engaging but he has never been elected to anything as lieutenant governor is an "appointed" position, which he only held for one term. However, he is the prominent young African American face of the Republican party right now and this is an obvious counterweight to Obama, even if tSteele's "experience" is lighter than Palin's ( believe it or not !) . Steele however is more moderate on other issues so he would have to keep saying "Drill baby Drill" to fire up the GOP base.
Meg Whitman - Ex CEO of EBay. Basic idea here is replace a woman with another Republican woman and Whitman has proven herself as a much better CEO over Carly Fiorina in my opinion. Continue to angle for Hilary voters. However with the general loathing in the public over CEOs and corporate types who are wealthy, this may be the worst choice.
Rudy G - Basically, a grab the headlines move. New York Rudy would work well in combination with a terrorist thing and the fear strategy. Though, I think he would be a bad choice too since he is a moderate on certain issues, the base would not be energized.
I have not mentioned Mike Huckabbe or Mitt Romney or even Pawlenty. These guys, if they are smart will decline. The McCain ticket as my wife has been saying now for quite some time is "toxic". In her analysis, no Republican who wants to have a shot at running for President again will get on the ticket with McCain. They realize that he could lose and they do not wantt to be associated with a loser. Its the kiss of death to a testosterone driven party right now to be seen as a "loser". Just imagine what "tough guy" Sean Hannity at Fox will say to his "locker room" audience. So Romney, Huckabee and Pawlenty would be smart not to accept, though they would have been the better choices oversall for a VP one heartbeat from the President, winning in 2012 and rebuilding the GOP brand is more important to those guys ( I think ) .
Regarding Point 2
Some Terrorist thing happening like a threat or capturing Bin Laden. This has been always in the GOP play book and if all else fails, they may go to that as the last ditch Hail Mary pass.