McCain's Memorial Day Weekend Guests

Sen. John McCain has been spending the Memorial Day weekend at his Arizona ranch -- with three potential running mates.

His guests for the weekend were Mitt Romney, Bobby Jindal and Charlie Crist.

All three have been mentioned as prospects for the vice presidency. I don't think any of them fit the bill.

And no clues were forthcoming from the gathering, which apparently wrapped up on Sunday.

"The McCain campaign was tight-lipped about the agenda for the weekend, which aides described as purely social," reports Michael Falcone in the New York Times.

• It isn't necessary for the candidates on the ticket to get along, but in McCain's case, I think it's pretty important.
  
  There have been rumblings in the media about problems the senator has with anger management. And it was pretty clear during the Republican campaign that he and Romney don't get along.
  
  So, although Romney has the economic credentials that McCain lacks -- as well as the ready support of many social conservatives who have been lukewarm to McCain's candidacy and ample financial backing -- I don't think he's right for the spot.
  
  I just can't see McCain and Romney forging a strong working relationship.
  
  
• Jindal provides the youth (he'll be 37 in about two weeks) to contrast with McCain's age (72 before the GOP convention).
  
  But the flip side to Jindal's youth is the absence of experience. Jindal was elected to two terms in the House of Representatives before being elected governor of Louisiana last year.
  
  He's off to a strong start in his efforts to reform the state's government -- but that's a long-term project.
  
  Jindal's been in office for, what, half an hour?
  
  He can afford to put any national ambitions he may have on the back burner until he has some solid accomplishments to add to his résumé.
  
  
• Crist (pictured above) is a contradictory sort.
  
  His support for McCain apparently helped the Arizona senator seal the deal in the Florida primary, which led to Rudy Giuliani's withdrawal from the race in late January.
  
  And we all learned how vital Florida's support can be during the recount in 2000.
  
  But, if McCain is going to give serious consideration to Crist as a running mate, he needs to clear the air of the persistent rumors about Crist's sexual orientation.
  
  As I understand it, there has been talk about Crist being gay for quite awhile.
  
  Talk that has been reported in journalistic circles.
  
  Sexual orientation may not work against Crist in state politics, but rumors that he is gay won't help McCain win over the social conservatives who have resisted him, even after clinching the nomination.

Here's a partial list of some of the sources of things that have been written on the subject of Crist's sexuality:


1. Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, March 2008.


2. Orlando Sentinel, February 2008.


3. Broward-Palm Beach New Times, October 2006.


4. Online Journal, October 2006.


5. Orlando Weekly, September 2006.


6. St. Petersburg Times, January 2005.

I've heard a number of intriguing possibilities brought up, and the three men who spent the weekend with McCain haven't been included on hot prospect lists very often.

The most frequently mentioned names that I've heard are people like Condoleezza Rice, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Joe Lieberman.

I think Rice is too intimately connected to the Bush administration's policies. Pawlenty has said he is committed to his work as governor. And, although Lieberman has been a strong supporter of McCain's presidential bid, the only issue on which the two men seem to share the same opinion is the war.

McCain doesn't need another "Me, too!" voice in support of the Iraq War.

Personally, I still think J.C. Watts is McCain's best choice -- for a number of reasons.

Here's A Thought About the GOP Ticket

I've been on the subject of running mates this evening, and I've just had a notion.

I've heard some people suggest that John McCain should pick Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice -- in part because of the belief that she could negate the race factor against Barack Obama.

My argument (as some of you who have read my earlier posts already know) has been that McCain shouldn't pick someone who is closely linked to an unpopular president and his policies.

McCain's running mate can be a supporter of many of George W. Bush's policies. Most of Bush's policies were and are broadly supported by other Republicans. But his campaign won't be helped by the presence of someone who has been -- and continues to be -- an intimate part of the incumbent administration.

Not in this season of change.

It seems I'm not the only one saying that. Roger Simon writes, in the Politico, that McCain needs to maintain his distance from Bush.

Although he never mentions the running mate directly, Simon lends support to my position with this compelling quote.

“'John McCain unfortunately is burdened by a not very good economy, by an ongoing war in Iraq and by Bush’s poll numbers in the high 20s,' Ken Duberstein, Ronald Reagan’s former chief of staff, who is very well-connected in Republican circles, told me Monday," Simon writes. “'McCain can’t be in a position of defending the last eight years.'”

But it's possible for Republicans to accomplish part of what the desired effect of a Rice nomination would be -- even if Rice isn't the nominee.

My notion is that McCain should pick J.C. Watts, a former congressman from Oklahoma. Watts is black, a former University of Oklahoma football star, religious, a devoted family man.

I was living in his congressional district when Watts was elected to the House in 1994. He pledged to serve only two terms, although he fudged a little on that one. He served four terms, then chose to step down in 2002 because he wanted to spend more time with his family.

There is no doubt in my mind that Watts could have won a fifth term -- and as many as he wanted beyond that. Watts' district is less than 7% black, but his share of the vote continued to grow in each successive election. In 2000, the last time he was on the ballot, he received the support of nearly two-thirds of the voters.

He modeled his congressional career on something he told the delegates to the 1996 Republican Convention: "Character is doing what's right when nobody is looking."

Compared to McCain, he's young (50). He's eloquent, he's a supporter of the Iraq War, and his nomination for vice president would be a strong counter to his own criticism of the Republican Party.

"Republicans want to say we reach out," Watts said. "But what we do instead is, 60 days before an election, we'll spend some money on black radio and TV or buy an ad in Ebony and Jet, and that's our outreach. People read through that."