...should be Tom Ridge, or Mike Bloomberg (if BHO doesn't pick Hillary), or Tim Pawlenty or perhaps Eric Cantor. But I'm wondering now if it won't be Rob Portman after all.

Since Mike Huckabee came from obscurity to win the second highest number of delegates in the primary, he deserves the VP nod. He surged ahead of the other candidates with virtually no staff, a shoestring budget, and little advance prepartion time or professional input for his campaign stump positions and debate responses. He made it from a third tier unknown to SECOND with a keen political savvy and unusually strong communication skills. He could do wonders for the Republican label and propel McCain over the top in many of the toss-up states, because he can RELATE with ordinary working people.
I also like Tim Pawlenty, but he does not have the charisma or name recognition that Huckabee has. John Thune, Steele, and Coburn are also good names to consider.
The anger expressed last week at the mention of Lieberman and Ridge should be enough to steer McCain away from these pro-choice candidates and demonstrate that he must choose someone who can honestly support the Republican platform.

When the primarys were ever on going, I supported Huckabee for President over McCain, and if Romney stayed in - he would have placed second in delegates - and made the race more interesting.
If the Democrats pick a white male, a female on the GOP ticket could be huge.
This poll is jaw-dropping, I diidn't expect this many responses' and it so close. I am so glad I found this site.

I like Palin's record a lot! But I still think Huckabee is McCain's best choice.

Survey USA took a series of polls to determine the VP candidate (out of Huckabee, Lieberman, Pawlenty, and Romney) who would help John McCain the most.

They took polls in PA, NM, VA, CA, OH, IA, KS, WI, NE, OR, NY, MA, MN, AL, KY, and MO. Of these, PA, NM, VA, OH, IA, OR, MN, and MO are generally considered to be possible battleground states in November.

In almost every case, Governor Mike Huckabee did best. He even had a slight lead in Massachusetts where Romney was once Governor!

Rasmussen recently took a similar poll. They asked those polled whether they had, in general, a favorable or unfavorable opinion of the following VP candidates: Crist, Huckabee, Jindal, Lieberman, Palin, and Romney.

Huckabee had the highest favorability and net favorability rating. The net was +8% compared to -6% for Romney.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2...

Honestly, if we want a winning ticket, we should look at all the independent polls that have been taken and what they say. Early June survey usa election polls were taken and released in all the swing states and it was clear that Huckabee helped the ticket most. Then, later in July the Zogby polls said the same thing. Now 7/25-27-08 the latest Rasmussen polls say Huckabee helps McCain +8 points and Romney hurts the ticket -6!! The media has given Romney so much press and speculated him as the front runner for vp for the past two months and all but ignored Huckabee and STILL the PEOPLE want Huckabee. His support base has grown since the primaries ended and he has earned the respect and admiration of Americans whether republican or democrat for being a straight talker, like McCain, honest and a man who tells it like it is...He appeals to the blue collar middle class, is the darling of evangelicals and moral conservatives and is the only Republican to actually reach out to the black republicans and youth. His domestic experience is beyond compare as are his oratoral skills and his campaign savvy. He actually likes and respects McCain and has said so throughout the primaries and the McCain/Huckabee chemistry is dynamite!! Together they could play on their humor and wit and turn this campaign into one filled with fun and excitement for the base. Picking Huck would excite this base like nothing else and would tell us that McCain cares about the people above the political machine of Washington elites.

I have been making the case for Palin as vice-presidential candidate for almost as long as I have been supporting McCain, which is to say seemingly forever now.

There have been many other good names mentioned for running mate, and there was the setback of a supposed cloud of scandal that has all but dissipated now, but I am holding firm in my hope of a McCain-Palin ticket.

Simply put, there is no candidate who would attract more voters to McCain's candidacy than Sarah Palin.

For one, she would energize the Republican Conservative base. No other candidate mentioned (except Jindal and Sanford) has a more conservative record than Palin, certainly not Romney, Huckabee, Ridge, Pawlenty, Lieberman, or Guiliani. As evidence of this, let me mention that Palin has already won endorsements and praise from a number of leading conservative voices, such as Larry Kudlow, Limbaugh, Fred Barnes, Gingrich, Kristol, and worldnetdaily.com.

Secondly, she is in an unique position of being able to make the McCain case, especially to those who would not be receptive to it otherwise.

For example:

Who better to make the pro-life argument than a mother of a Down Syndrome child, who said of him "We knew through early testing he would face special challenges, and we feel privileged that God would entrust us with this gift and allow us unspeakable joy as he entered our lives. We have faith that every baby is created for good purpose and has potential to make this world a better place. We are truly blessed." ?

Who better to defend and support our military than a mother whose oldest son is in the military?

Who better to argue the current Republican mantra of "drill, drill, drill" than the Governor of Alaska?

Who better to attract the gender-driven Hillary Democrats than a Republican who is a young, charismatic woman?

One more question - what better way to offset the historic candidacy of Barack Obama than by picking a conservative but not picking, to use Newt Gingrich's words, another 'boring, white male'?

Palin seems like a great person and a great leader. The GOP would be wise to have her speak at the convention (assuming that the scandal rumors are false).

However, just knowing that she has 5 children and 1 of them is a newborn with Down's Syndrome instantly tells me that this person has too much on her plate already. Being the Governor of Alaska is 1 thing; Being the Vice-President of the United States of America is a VERY DIFFERENT thing.

That doesn't mean that the person is a bad person, at all. It's just that the Vice-President is just any moment away from being the leader of the free world who could, potentially, need to be on the constant run for months-on-end for the sake of our nation's very survival. If I were her, I would not want the job, just for my special needs child's sake.

Huckabee has the largest national following that is able to win the most votes for McCain. His army of supporters, combined with Huckabee's strong work ethic and persuasive speaking and debating skills, were able to pull off some amazing feats. A 20 point gap closure in Virginia in 4 days and a near tie in Texas when McCain had the endorsements of a retired Texas POTUS who is the father of the sitting Texas POTUS, the sitting Texas Gov, and Hagee the well-known San Antonio mega-church pastor. Huckabee also pulled in over 335,000 votes in Ohio!

As for Romney, he got most of his delegates from midwest caucus states, where the others didn't compete, because they knew that Romney would just win by out-spending them. He bragged about Wyoming and called it, "A Gold Medal". HA! Anyway, he slammed McCain way too much and the Democrats would have a field day showing his own commercials to us ( http://www.romneyonmccain.blogspot.com ). He also has this problem lurking in the background that the Dems and MSM would suddenly bring to everyone's attention, if he were selected. The problem is called Daniel Tavares Jr. They would start saying that this guy was, "Romney's Willie Horton" ( http://www.danieltavaresjr.blogspot.com/ )

Found this neat explanation of Huckabee voters. Makes for interesting reading: http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2008/082008/08152008/400545/printer_f...

Have fun all. Hope we get a good winning (and truly conservative) ticket, so that Obombus doesn't take over as leader of the free world! :+)