McCain To Pick VP This Week: Romney Or Jindal?

Outside the Beltway writes: "Bob Novak is reporting that John McCain is planning to announce his vice presidential choice this week, presumably in an attempt to grab the press spotlight back while Barack Obama is being feted overseas. He notes that 'Mitt Romney has led the speculation recently.' Meanwhile, Chris Cillizza says 'McCain will huddle with vice presidential aspirant Bobby Jindal during a trip to New Orleans later this week' which suggests that Jindal 'is under serious consideration.' Both men would be popular with conservatives (although I still haven’t figured out why, exactly, that’s the case with the more-moderate-than-McCain Romney) and have qualities that would help the ticket with moderates. They both have their drawbacks, too. Romney’s got significant executive experience, is reasonably charismatic, and shores McCain up nicely on the economic front. There is the ever present 'Mormon question,' but that’s likely a much lesser problem for the number two spot. The biggest obstacle here is that the two men seem not to like each other very much and there are plenty of sound bytes from their campaign against each other that could be played in the Fall. Jindal is, as Joseph Lawler puts it, 'the Right’s version of Barack Obama: young, a minority, articulate, and appealing. Only, Obama doesn’t have Jindal’s long list of accomplishments.' He helped revamp Medicare as a 24-year-old and turned around Louisiana’s university system before he turned 30. On the other hand, his belief in things like exorcism might not play so well outside that state. Morever, as I’ve argued previously and Cillizza reiterates, Jindal’s 'foreign policy resume is at least as thin as Obama’s,' undercutting McCain’s chief argument. Romney would be the much more conventional choice while Jindal would be more exciting."

My response: Who Sen. McCain and Sen. Obama pick as their running mates will be a big factor in my vote. Governor Jindal would be an exciting pick. However, he has only been in politics for a hot minute and would undermine Sen. McCain's subtle claim that Sen. Obama lacks experience to be president. Picking Mr. Romney would probably excite conservative Republicans, but it wouldn't excite this moderate-conservative independent. However, Romney is not a hell-no pick for me, like picking Mike Huckabee would be for me. Announcing his VP pick while Sen. Obama is overseas ain't gonna help Sen. McCain, because the mainstream media overall is so in the tank for Obama. Sen. McCain should wait. My top VP pick for Sen. McCain would be Gen. Colin Powell, but that ain't gonna happen.