Another One Bites the Dust

Now that Mitt Romney has formally ended his presidential run, John McCain's lock on the Republican presidential nomination is all but assured. Huckabee and Ron Paul are still hanging on, but they trail far behind McCain and it's unlikely that they could make up the distance, let alone pass him.

Because of McCain's age, his choice of a running mate is of particular importance. Traditionally, the vice presidential candidate chosen is someone who contrasts with the presidential candidate in such a way that the combined ticket will appeal to the widest cross section of voters possible. For instance, John F, Kennedy, a northeastern liberal chose Lyndon Johnson, a southern good old boy politician, as his running mate -- the two men couldn't have been any more different.

McCain's main obstacle to getting elected is that fundamentalist Christians don't like him because he's not particularly conservative on social issues. Focus on the Family leader James Dobson, who is pretty much the current leader of the Religious Right, has stated several times that if McCain is the nominee, that he will not vote at all and will advise his followers to do the same. If this plays out and fundamentalist Republicans follow suit, this would effectively hand the election to the Democrats.

I'm predicting that in an attempt to prevent this, that it's quite likely that McCain will choose Huckabee, a Baptist minister, as his running mate to keep the fundies in the Republican fold.

I don't know about you, but the idea of Huckabee, an avowed theocrat, being second in line for the White House scares the shit out of me.

Thoughts?