iapprovedthismessage.com

After a two month break iapprovedthismessage is back for some more exciting political and social commentary, and it couldn’t be at a more ground-breaking time politically. Right now we’re looking at an electoral map that John Kerry couldn’t have imagined four years ago. Here is fivethirtyeight’s current projection.

With Obama seriously contesting in states like North Carolina and potentially winning in places like Indiana, Missouri and Virginia it’s getting to be panic time for the McCain campaign. McCain needs to make a splash somehow to counteract the Obama momentum that he continues to carry from the end of the primary campaign. I think the best way to do this is to pick a VP now and get him (or her) out on the campaign trail as quickly as possible.

I say her because I know there is a school of thought that thinks McCain would benefit significantly from picking a woman. The problem is, there aren’t a whole lot of particularly viable candidates, outside of Condi Rice (who has said she wouldn’t do it), that McCain could pick that wouldn’t cause his selection to look like some kind of gender gimmick. Retiring Texas Senator Kay Baily-Hutchinson could be a possible option but she doesn’t have a whole lot of name-recognition and she has that grandmother-look to her that wouldn’t help McCain either.

I think it seems the obvious pick at this point is Florida Governor Charlie Crist. Crist would, of course, secure Florida’s 27 votes but would also be a defensive pick for McCain. However, he doesn’t have any other particularly good options at this point. But having an energetic and moderate Crist on the campaign trail would be very beneficial to McCain, at least in the short run.