Observers Indulge in GOP's V.P. Guessing Game

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin would be "a decided asset" as John McCain's running mate, Nat Hentoff writes in the Rocky Mountain News.

Palin is "an independent Republican governor, a woman, a defender of life against the creeping culture of death and a fresh face in national politics, described in the Almanac of National Politics as 'an avid hunter and fisher with a killer smile who wears designer glasses and heels, and hair like modern sculpture.'"

Palin seems to bring a lot of things to the ticket that McCain lacks. She's younger than Obama, she's made decisions in her personal life that clearly show her commitment to the anti-abortion position, yet she has the reputation of a maverick, much like McCain.

Meanwhile, an even younger Republican governor is continuing to draw attention as a potential running mate.

Louisiana's Bobby Jindal is stirring Republican imaginations, reports Sasha Issenberg in the Boston Globe.

Jindal has been recommended, the Globe reports, by the likes of "Rush Limbaugh, Newt Gingrich, and the Washington Times."

Meanwhile, talk continues to swirl around the possibility of Hillary Clinton being chosen to be Barack Obama's running mate.

Donald Lambro writes, in the Washington Times, that choosing Clinton would be a mistake for Obama.

"A vice presidential candidate in most cases won't win the election for him," Lambro writes, "but the wrong nominee could ensure that he loses. Hillary would be that candidate."