McCain's Number Two

In this Post:

• Tim Pawlenty
• Mitt Romney
• John McCain

Today this blog will deliver on its previous promise to pick John McCain’s running mate this week. Or, to be precise, the promise to explain who makes the most sense as McCain’s vice presidential nominee, as I did a few days ago with Barack Obama. Envelope, please. And the winner is…

Mitt Romney…and Tim Pawlenty. Uh-oh. It’s a tie. How did this happen? Well, the two “winners” meet different criteria, and they make sense for different reasons. First, let’s ask ourselves: What does John McCain need? Or, rather, who helps him the most? McCain wouldn’t seem to have the gaps in his résumé that the Democratic nominee has to deal with, but has one obvious deficiency—and it’s a biggie: McCain lacks executive experience.

The GOP nominee was a mid-level naval officer, then a House member, later a Senator. Never served as a governor, never ran a big company, never was placed at the top of the management pyramid to run a big complicated organization, like say, the Olympics. Mitt Romney has done all that. Add to the mix that Romney is a legendary family man (he didn’t fool around on his wife before they were married), that he enjoys high name identification, and that he looks like the candidate from central casting. Most political experts believe Romney ran a poor primary campaign in 2008, and I agree. But it’s hard to run for that office successfully the first time. McCain himself couldn’t pull it off eight years ago. Which reminds me: Because McCain would be as old in his first term as Ronald Reagan was in his second, voters are going to look at whether his Number Two could step into the job if needed.

Tim Pawlenty, the governor of Minnesota, helps McCain in a different way. Although not well known nationally, he enjoys a solid reputation among good-government types as chief executive of "The State that Works." Pawlenty would also enjoy broad and deep support from the Republican base because he fits the conservative litmus test on abortion and other social issues, unlike some of the names the McCain camp has floated in recent days. Pawlenty, who enjoys playing pick-up hockey, is vigorous and young—he turns 48 years old three weeks after the election—a fresh face in a political party that seems a bit tired. Not to Loose Cannon, mind you, but to the voters, only 27 percent of whom now self-identify as Republicans. Pawlenty, who grew up in working-class St. Paul, and is the first member of his family to go to college, could burnish the Republican brand and expand it's appeal.

So there you have it: Barack Obama and Evan Bayh vs. John McCain and Romney/Pawlenty. Now it’s up to the two nominees to ratify their wisdom by agreeing with the most courteous, bi-partisan, and insightful blog in cyberspace.

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