January 19, 2007
HERE'S YOUR HATCHET, WHAT'S YOUR HURRY:
McCain hires Boston political operative (AP, Jan 19, 2007)
Sen. John McCain has hired a Boston political operative with intimate knowledge of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and his changing political positions to work on his presidential exploratory committee.Rob Gray, president of Gray Media, served as the top political adviser to Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey last fall in her unsuccessful campaign to succeed Romney as governor. That campaign suffered, in part, as Romney adopted increasingly conservative positions that differed from the moderate platform he and Healey campaigned on in 2002.
Intimate knowledge is hardly needed--an 8th grade social studies class could carve the Governor up. Posted by Orrin Judd at January 19, 2007 2:19 PM
So Gray, who ran a horrible campaign for Healey, is going to help McCain? The general consensus is Healey ran away from the Romney record and therefore tried to sound a Democrat-lite which doesn't work in a state that prefers the real thing.
And Gray is going to help McCain run as a moderate when it is the GOP base he has to worry about?
If Gray wasn't connected to Romney this news would be a non-event.
Posted by: AWW at January 19, 2007 3:00 PMNo, he's there to bury Romney with conservatives by exposing how he's run in MA.
Posted by: oj![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://brothersjuddblog.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at January 19, 2007 6:03 PM
ROMNEY FOR VICE PRESIDENT!
Why?
First, Romney is extremely competent, clean, and intelligent. You're sure he won't embarrass you by being a dufus like Quayle or having skeletons in his closet.
Second, Romney is enough of a flip-flopper that he'd be good at handling the heavy burden of compromise which any vice-presidential nominee has to bear.
Third, he's a Blue State guy, and he'll have a good vibe in places where Republicans have difficulty being competitive (as opposed to, say, the South, where they don't need any extra help).
Fourth, he's sort of boring. Interesting veep nominees are bad news. Think Jack Kemp, Joe Lieberman, John Edwards. Losers. As opposed to Dick Cheney, Al Gore, George Bush Sr. (This is why Jeb Bush is no good for the job. He's a #1 personality, not a #2.)
Fifth, he's handsome.
Sixth, he's someone the country could trust in a time of crisis. Again, competent, serious. And experienced. He turned around the Utah Olympics when they were in trouble.
Seventh, he's a genuine brilliant businessman, unlike W. It's a nice way for Republicans to sport their credentials as the party of business.
Eighth, the more people learn about the Mormon Church in the course of a political campaign, the more comfortable they'll be with a Mormon vice-president.
McCain-Romney. The ticket for '08.
Posted by: Nathan Smith at January 19, 2007 6:45 PMIt's McCain-Lieberman in '08. Might as well as get some cross-overs votes. Romney doesn't bring anything extra.
Posted by: sam at January 19, 2007 8:52 PMMcCain's vp is the president by 20012, so it needs to be Jeb.
Posted by: oj at January 19, 2007 9:00 PM
OJ - Romney ran as conservative as possible in MA while dealing with a legislature that is overwhelmingly Dem. Balanced the budget without raising taxes. And you had that whole gay marriage thing as he was leaving.
As for McCain-Bush we've had this disagreement before - McCain is too arrogant and anti-Bush to pick Jeb no matter how much sense it makes.
Posted by: AWW at January 19, 2007 9:40 PMSome of us are old enough to remember when he was too arrogant to campaign with Bush or deep six CFR provisions just to get Dobson's backing...
McCain has always done whatever anyone asked to build the party.
Posted by: oj at January 19, 2007 10:55 PM
McCain is pretty clearly the President's prefered successor. That has been apparent since 2003 or so. So I don't think he would mind picking Jeb, that may be the quid pro quo in fact.
McCain's problem is evangelicals. Mitt is a Mormon, many evangelicals are suspicious of Mormons. Jeb is very well liked by evangelicals. Plus Jeb makes Florida a lead pipe cinch. Can Mitt deliver any state? McCain wants to be President. You do the math.
Posted by: Bob at January 20, 2007 10:38 AMre: "picking Jeb... may be the quid pro quo in fact."
That is the BEST reason why Jeb Bush for VP would be a DISASTER. Remember the "Corrupt Bargain" of 1824? Remember Ford losing 40% of his approval rating after pardoning Nixon? Voters would smell a rat. Even if there isn't a quid pro quo.
McCain-Lieberman, of course, would provoke an uprising from the right. Why risk a three-way race when you can win the two-way race.
Romney's your man.
Posted by: Nathan Smith at January 20, 2007 2:50 PM1824? Going pretty far back. No one in America remembers 1984 very well.
The pardon was unpopular because we wanted to fry Nixon, not because of any perceived bargain.
Romney is Edwards redux.
Posted by: Bob at January 20, 2007 3:21 PMNormally, I love boring, but Romney is too boring even for a boring lover.
Posted by: erp at January 20, 2007 3:31 PMWeak candidates look for a VP nominee who will "bring something to the ticket." Strong candidates know that they need to be their own man.
Posted by: Nathan Smith at January 20, 2007 5:14 PMNo one has ever not taken the vp for what he adds, except FDR in his 4th term when he didn't care anymore and got stuck with Truman.
Posted by: at January 20, 2007 6:15 PMFord was a rat. Adding Jeb is just good politics.
Posted by: oj at January 20, 2007 6:18 PM