Wednesday, February 06, 2008

McCain-Huckabee   [Ramesh Ponnuru]

The upsides are obvious. They're the first- and third- best vote-getters in the Republican field. Huckabee helps to make up for McCain's weakness with evangelical Protestants and, to a lesser extent, his weakness on domestic policy. The most frequently mentioned downside—the further alienation of some of the same conservatives who have misgivings about McCain—may be overblown. (But so may the need for McCain to take extraordinary measures to win evangelical voters. Does anyone really think he would lose the South?)

But there's another problem. The job of the vice president has changed, thanks to Clinton's decision to pick Al Gore in 1992 and Bush's decision to pick Dick Cheney in 2000. These men, at the time they were picked, were extraordinarily well respected; and they went on to have greater responsibilities than previous vice presidents. I think voters now expect vice presidential nominees to pass a higher bar. They can't be picked solely to win a state or lock down a constituency. They have to be plausible presidents. I expect that consideration will be even more important given McCain's age. And I'm not sure that Huckabee can clear that bar.

02/06 11:37 AMShare