Speculation starts on possible McCain running mates

WASHINGTON--With the GOP presidential contest all but locked up for John McCain, one of Washington's favorite political parlor games began in earnest on Friday.



Who will John McCain pick for a running mate?



Dozens of names have been floated as possibilities for the number two spot on McCain's ticket this fall.



Some of those mentioned, like North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr, have been singled out as vice presidential timber by McCain himself.



The names of others, like South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist and presidential candidate Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, have come from pundits and party insiders.



"McCain has a million directions in which he could go," said Norman Ornstein, a political scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative Washington think-tank. "Any logic we employ to determine who he's going to pick at this point would be very shaky logic."



McCain could use any number of factors to winnow the list of possible running mates. Vice presidents are often chosen to bring geographical or ideological balance to a ticket, or to make up for inexperience in certain areas.



For example, George W. Bush had little national security experience when he entered office, and selected Dick Cheney for his familiarity with defense issues and foreign affairs.



McCain, of Arizona, would be the oldest person elected to his first term as president. He would be 72 the day he took office. He has also taken fire from the conservative wing of the party for his less than hard-line stance on illegal immigration.



Choosing a young Southerner like Burr, a 52-year-old conservative darling, would balance the ticket nicely, said Ferrell Blount, a former chairman of the North Carolina Republican party who endorsed McCain last year.



"He's a staunch conservative, he's young and attractive, and he's from the South," Blount said. "He's a shining star in our party."



The fact that Burr spends much of the year as a lawmaker in Washington could hurt Burr's chances, Orenstein said. He predicted that McCain, who has been in Washington for decades, would choose a governor to balance the ticket.



Of course, balance does not always play a role. Bill Clinton chose Al Gore despite the fact that they were both moderate middle-aged white Southerners, though Gore's career was centered in Washington, and Clinton's in Arkansas.



McCain, who is known for his willingness to buck conventional thinking, could choose a politician with an ideological and demographic profile that mirrors his own -- another elder with strong national defense credentials.



On Friday, he suggested that picking someone from the South, a strong Republican base, would not be the paramount consideration.



"Former President [Bill] Clinton and former Vice President [Al] Gore showed that you don't have to be regionally different. I think America is such now that quote regional differences don't play the role that maybe they did in earlier times," he said, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.



Or, he could select a de facto Democrat, his close friend Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, an independent who endorsed McCain.



Lieberman's frequent campaigning with McCain has fed that speculation, though Lieberman has said he is not interested in the job. In fact, many of the names on the list of potentials are there in part because they appeared so frequently with McCain on the trail.



Burr and his wife campaigned alongside McCain in several early primary and caucus states.



But he is also one of the few politicians that McCain has identified as a possible vice presidential pick by name. In an October 2006 interview with Hardball host Chris Matthews on MSNBC, he named Burr, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Sen. John Thune of North Dakota and Sen. John Sununu of New Hampshire as possibilities.



At least publicly, Burr has played coy when asked about the possibility of the vice presidency. "I won't be the vice president," he told the Winston-Salem Journal after endorsing McCain last year.



Though many politicians want the job, few are willing to say so publicly, since actively and publicly campaigning for the vice presidency is considered gauche in Washington.



"Senator Burr has been proud to campaign for John McCain because he has long believed McCain is the best candidate to be President. Burr's focus remains on serving the people of North Carolina in the U.S. Senate," said Mike Fenley, a spokesman for Burr's campaign committee.