Vice-President John McCain?

I've been thinking, what if in 2000, GW Bush had chosen John McCain as his running mate, instead of Dick Cheany?

First of all, how would it have effected the 2000 election? Would their still be the whole Florida thing, or would one side clearly have beat out the other?

Assuming they do win, how would this effect the Bush Presidency? Would things have turned out better, or worse?

Would they be re-elected in 2004?
Would McCain run for President in 2008?

your thoughts would be appreciated.
 
I assume McCain would have helped GW Bush in 2000. I suspect it might have given him a majority of the popular vote and a legitimate victory in Florida.

It might be that McCain as VP would prevent the Iraq invasion or would persuade Bush to put far more troops into it. Clearly Cheney had a lot of influence in OTL.

On the other hand there were lots of others pushing for the Iraq adventure.

I suspect that most events would be as in OTL.

I think that McCain would be still be nominated and his defeat in 2008 would be significantly heavier.
 
I don't know if McCain as VP would have had as much influence over Bush's foreign policy as Cheney did. But if he had been able to guide Bush towards a more moderate stance, it might have helped his chances in 2008.
 
Assuming that the Gore/Lieberman ticket is still the same which it might not be since Lieberman and McCain are friends I think McCain would have buffed Bush’s numbers enough to give him a solid win at least compared to OTL. Now if really want to stir the pot have someone other than Rumsfeld as SECDEF and you’ve radically changed the tone of the administration and probably changed just as much the last eight years.
 
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