Thoughts after South Carolina

Well, McCain wins South Carolina tonight, and 19 of the 24 delegates.  Thompson, my favourite, came in third, but without any delegates.

So, with McCain picking up momentum, I've been thinking a bit about the best combo for winning the White House in November.  Several polls recently have shown that regardless of who the Democrats nominate, McCain stands a solid chance of keeping the White House for the GOP come November.  Meanwhile, those same polls seem to show that the other candidates for the Republicans would go down to defeat regardless of who the Dems put forward.

So, I've started to think about the best choice for Vice President.  (though I still think Fred is the best pick for President)  Here's my analysis, for what it's worth...

Of the current pack, the best ticket I can see for November would be a McCain/Thompson ticket... and here's why.  Of the current field, there's really no one else that he could name as his running mate.  Stop and think about it for just a moment...

Huckabee will scare off the moderates with his Evangelical roots... and I say that as a fellow Evangelical Christian.  The Left will tear him to shreds... he's too big of a liability to McCain.

Romney's an even bigger liability, because moderates and the Left will automatically associate him with the religious right and Christianity... but being a Mormon will hurt the GOP even more, because he'll only alienate large portions of the Christian right, who will never support him because he's a Mormon.

Then there's Ron Paul... well, my apologies to my friend Shawn, but he's the BIGGEST liability for the GOP because of all the kooks and crazies who have latched on to his candidacy.  They're going to be a source of ridicule and scorn that will hang around his neck and drag him down, providing endless fodder for the leftist media.  Regardless of whether or not he has the best policies, he can't win because of the cult that has arisen around him.

As a result of the other candidate's liabilities, Gulliani may then look like the ideal candidate... but don't let looks deceive you.  Even with Pat Robertson's endorsement, the religious right has refused to even consider Gulliani, because of his blatantly pro-choice views, and questions about his moral character.  He was the ideal guy for the GOP in New York, but there's no way he can swing support out of the Bible Belt.  They'll support an independent run by someone like Huckabee, and a resulting Democrat win of the White House, before they'll support Rudy... which is too bad.

Therefore, of all the candidates, the best person for McCain to choose as a running mate (should he win the nomination, of course) is Fred Thompson.  Fred's respected as a moderate, but he's not too moderate for the right.  He's a natural supporter of McCain's views regarding Iraq and the war on terror.  He's a well known and trusted face throughout America, thanks to all his television and movie exposure.  And he's a reformer... someone who's got a political history of shaking up the status quo, and getting the job done.

That's my two cents... which is worth about $0.0197 in the US of A...