On the women, I would favor Carly Fiorina. She's very accomplished, largely self-made, and would add to his economic shortfall.

She was very unpopular at HP, with many people thinking her decision to merge with Compaq was a bad business move, eventually getting her fired as CEO. I had some friends who worked at HP at the time, and every one of them was trilled when she left. Combined that with her support of increased H1-B visas, and she will probably turn off many Republicans in the tech industry.

Good point on Keyes. I must admit to laughing when I saw that windbags name there.

On the women, I would favor Carly Fiorina. She's very accomplished, largely self-made, and would add to his economic shortfall. He doesn't need any shoring up in foreign policy experience and, unless he dies within months of winning, she'll have time to get the experience she needs.

John McCain should choose Alan Keyes for VP. Certainly he's better qualified than the rest of the field.

Based on what, exactly? He's lost every race he's ever run. Including, incidentally, one against Obama for the Senate seat the latter currently holds.

If her experience and accomplishments are objectively equal to, or even superior to, Obama's, why would McCain not be free to continue to point out Obama's lack of same?

Barack Obama's no more qualified to be president than my choice for vice president! I'm not sure that's a winning argument.

Bad boys get more girls. (h/t, Flares) Another drop-out who made good. CarlRight Wing Prof vs. The Power.Obama losing his sheen? Pajamas. Heck, he's just another Chicago pol. Breaking his promise re public financing clinches the argument. But the car...

I recently suggested Sen. Jim DeMint for McCain's running mate. Now, let's be honest, that's not going to happen. And that's not necessarily a bad thing -- we can use......

On the other hand, George H.W. Bush made what's generally considered the most disastrous Veep choice of the last 40 years with Dan Quayle, and it neither cost him the election in 1988 nor contributed to his defeat in any significant way in 1992.

Since then, there's a pretty good argument to be made that Al Gore and Dick Cheney have transformed the office of the VP into something close to an actual partnership with the president. And that's the way a McCain/Palin ticket could be and should be marketed: Not that she'd just go to funerals in foreign countries, but that she'd apply the same zeal to actually governing in Washington as she has in Alaska.

The number one and two issues this fall are shaping up to be (1) energy costs and (2) foreign policy (including the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and the GWOT generally). It's hard to say which will be more important, but as of today, I'd actually put them in that order. McCain has commanding authority on the second issue. Palin could very quickly step into a commanding role on the first.

She is already a highly articulate, very persuasive advocate for aggressive (but environmentally sensitive) development of energy resources from her home state. That was her focus as chair of the Alaska Oil & Gas Conservation Commission, and it's been her primary focus since she was elected governor in 2006 (with actual results in terms of proposing and passing legislation). But she also has a demonstrated record of standing up to big oil companies in that process, having replaced a tax structure that was arranged by her predecessor in closed-door sessions with a new, slightly higher, and vastly more transparent tax structure. She's setting the big three oil companies in Alaska (BP, ConocoPhillips, and ExxonMobil) against each other and against potential other competitors in developing a natural gas pipeline from the North Slope that will finally address Alaskans' own energy needs as well as eventually help provide natural gas to the continental 48.

McCain could declare that she's to be his energy czar on the day he announces her selection, and she would dominate the issue for the remainder of the election season. Not because of what she might do if McCain croaks, but for what she will do as his partner in the McCain/Palin administration. Now that's something that will attract votes — something that will rally the GOP base, but simultaneously attract independents, cross-overs, and escapees from the Obama cult who are looking for someone else with charisma to believe in.