A Woman as McCain's Veep?

Over at the Politico David Kuhn takes a look at the few options McCain has for a female VP...

Sarah Palin

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin may be nationally unknown, but in her state she is nothing short of a political phenomenon.

Palin, 44, would add youth to the GOP ticket. As governor she has shown a willingness to veto some of the state’s large capital projects, no small plus for fiscal conservatives. But it’s her personal biography, which excites social conservatives, and reformist background that might most appeal to McCain.

Carly Fiorina

Carly Fiorina has an up-by-her-own-bootstraps success story, having worked her way from a start as a young secretary straight through the glass ceiling to become Hewlett-Packard’s chief executive from 1999 to 2005. She presently serves as the chair of the organization tasked by the Republican National Committee with preparing the party’s crucial get-out-the-vote operation. It’s no symbolic post, but a crucial position for a party facing an uphill presidential contest.

Along with eBay.com CEO Meg Whitman — who has also been brought up occasionally as a long-shot GOP vice presidential prospect — Fiorina is one of the most prominent female executives of the last decade.

Kay Bailey Hutchison

Last week Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, the longest-tenured female Republican senator, joined McCain for a fundraising sprint in the Lone Star state. Hutchison, who until recently headed the Senate Republican Conference, now serves as chairwoman of the Republican Policy Committee, two top Beltway party posts.

I don't think there are enough angry Clinton supporters that are willing to vote for McCain to pick a female VP. It'd be a pretty crappy consolation prize. Additionally there is the question of what these three will bring to the table. After all Texas is already a GOP stronghold, Alaska has only a very small number of votes in the electoral college, and HP became more profitable after Fiorina was fired. As noted in the article it would however get McCain massive attention from the press and additionally would do a bit towards improving the GOPs image. Those two things could also be achieved if McCain picked Bobby Jindal however. Odds are McCain is going to pick whoever can bring the most voters to the ballot boxes in a battleground state.

Of those whose names are curretly being bandied about as potential VP candidates Charlie Crist fits that bill the best.