On Good Morning America, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) was asked if he'd accept an offer to be Kerry's number two:
John Kerry is a close friend of mine... Obviously I would entertain it... But I see no scenario where that would happen.
Hey, if I was a Republican, I wouldn't take kindly to one of my most high-profile senators publicly flirting with the opposition's nominee.
Could you imagine if it was Breaux or Bayh talking about "entertaining" an offer to replace Cheney on Bush's ticket?
I have mixed feelings about McCain. I admire him on process grounds (the straight-shooter stuff), but his politics are to the right of Lincoln Chaffee, whose politics are to the right of "conservative" Dems like Breaux and Bayh. Definitely not my cup of tea.
But his defection to the Democratic Party would be a Big Thing (TM). And Arizona would be ours (that would be checkmate).
Well, now that Brokaw has emphatically denied he has political aspirations, might as well make McCain the crazy-ass "outside the box" veep possibility of the moment.
Update: The story has hit the AP. Expect feeding frenzy, all of it reflecting good on Kerry and poorly on Bush.