A ticket of McCain-Giuliani would have been quite interesting.
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Wow. McCain/Giuliani, that would have been worse than McCain/Palin.
A ticket of McCain-Giuliani would have been quite interesting.
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Wow. McCain/Giuliani, that would have been even funnier than McCain/Palin.
What cost McCain the election, as much as anything else, is how much he LISTENED to the GOP. If he had run as the candidate from 2000 he would have been a far stronger choice.
As was, between his lurch to the Right (somewhere he was never really comfortable, as demonstrated by his unwillingness to start throwing idiotic Birther crap around) and his disastrous choice of Palin as VP running mate, he didn't have a prayer.
The funny thing is that when he selected Palin I was worried that she would really help him with the GOP base and allow him to play to his real strength in the center. Instead she turned into the biggest VP millstone since Eagleton.
If it was of a big state (like New York, Texas, or California) AND if they were already famous for some time due to some political wheeling and dealing, (example: A republican in California that managed to get tax and budget cuts thru a Democratic Legislature) it would be possible, but still unlikely.
This is spot on. If McCain had been true to himself and not sold out to Rove and co, he stood some chance and at least if he had lost he would have known he had been true to himself. McCain the Maverick had made a career out of beating or nearly beating the odds. My father, who knows absolutely zero about American politics, saw the Al Smith Dinner with the two of them and I told him a bit about both candidates. His response was: McCain's been tortured for his country; if people had listened to him in 2000 we'd have been spared 8 years of Bush; and he's a damn sight funnier than Obama (which is what really swung it).
McCain being McCain is unpredictable and exciting. I suspect he would still have lost but at least a McCain/Lieberman ticket would have been true to himself...
I'm sure that would have helped Bob Barr or Ron Paul get more votes. (Perhaps Alan Keyes too, on the Religious Right side.)A ticket of McCain-Giuliani would have been quite interesting.
The state legislature political figure that comes to mind for me is Willie Brown, the former speaker of the California State Assembly who later became mayor of San Francisco.
http://www.biography.com/print/profile/willie-brown-40059
(Now there's a "Governor Brown" TL waiting to happen)
In my time of lurking on this forum I've heard a fair bit of enthusiasm for Elizabeth Dole, is there any remotely plausible POD that would make her inclined to try for president herself again?
And if there is such a POD would a Dole/Rice ticket be a possibility?
McCain would probably have to turn to the US House to find another young, conservative woman to replace Palin.
Condolezza Rice's views on abortion mean that a Republican Convention would not nominate her and any Republican nominee who tried to choose her would be in deep trouble
Really, in 2008? I know 2012 had the whole war-on-women thing, but I think there was more leeway in 2008 - the party had re-nominated Bush just four years earlier after all, and Rice's position was the same as his. Iraq is a much bigger problem with Rice, though I think it's one that could have been overcome.
She wanted the Federal Government out of abortion completely, removing Taxpayer Funding but also limiting the advance at Partial-Birth abortion. To many conservatives this was simply to far out of line with their views, and there was not some sort of foil for her that could have effectively counter-acted that (Colin Powell for example had his military-background, which brought appeal even when his abortion views were, I think, even further left than Condi's)
What about picking somebody from outside of government, any possibilities there?Young, female, and super-conservative are a tricky combination other than Palin in 2008.
What about picking somebody from outside of government, any possibilities there?
What about picking somebody from outside of government, any possibilities there?
Really, in 2008? I know 2012 had the whole war-on-women thing, but I think there was more leeway in 2008 - the party had re-nominated Bush just four years earlier after all, and Rice's position was the same as his. Iraq is a much bigger problem with Rice, though I think it's one that could have been overcome.
Yes social conservatives had that kind of power iin 2008.