I love the prose of Micheal Sean Winters, especially when he is taking on that obnoxious neoconservative, George Weigel. But is he mad? I know that it is becoming my mantra out here but I think that McCain is going to name a Southern white male as his number two. Olympia Snowe will drive the uberconservatives crazy. Of course, the thinking here is, where else do they have to go? Well, not to the polls on the first Tuesday of November. Mac is already Olympia Snowe, substantially. Or, rather, he was. But he still has that maverick image that the media should know better than to swallow and regurgitate after about 2004. Sanford before Snowe.

Nope.  Despite the intoning of how the Veep doesn't bring his own state, the point is to swing SOME state,  somewhere, the larger the better, or at least secure an important state.  Saying that Edwards didn't swing North Carolina is irrelevant because it wasn't on the cusp.  Too firmly red at that time.  A Veep candidate can make a difference in a marginal case.  So, you go looking for the key marginal states and ask who could help there.  It could be a "favorite son" or it could be someone who has strong appeal to the demographics in that state and can make it happen.  Olympia Snowe, favorite daughter of blue ME, an unknown in any state that matters, nothing to commend her to any demographic in play,  brings nothing at all and asks the electorate to break two taboos, a black and a woman, at the same time.  Unnecessary and pointless.

This is just punditry for punditry's sake.  THINK MAN!

I like the idea, but when I ran it past a few registered Democrats, they turned thumbs down. Although the idea appealed to them in the abstact, they agreed that Hillary's devoted minions would find it insulting to have their "girl" be passed over for a Republican.

Though I prefer Susan Collins, I think it's an excellent idea.  Then again, I think she'd be good for McCain too...

Yeah, but if he offers and she turns him down, he will look bad. I suppose the offer will have to be conditional on her taking it, that is if she takes it it is an offer but if she says no it was only the beginnings of a discussion.

blacks + latte liberals = mcgovern coallition

blacks + latte liberals + women = victory

Great idea and I'd prefer Susan too (also part of the Gang of 14), but it ain't gonna happen.  Neither Olympia or Susan would through their fellow Gang of 14 member under the bus like that.

Don't forget, John McCain was part of the Gang of 14 too, as was Senator Joe.

I voted for Olympia Snowe in the last election, because I feel that with her party in the minority, she'll tend to vote the right way, and her last challenger was an unqualified joke.  However, her loyalty to the party is pretty clear, and she knows what side her bread is buttered on.  Look at her voting record, and every time it's been her vote (or Collins's for that matter) that would have made the difference in blocking the GOP, she's toed the line.  I would be just a leeeeeetle bit uneasy with her as the tie-breaking vote in the Senate.

That being said, if she were to leave her Senate spot, Baldacci would appoint a Democrat in her place, so it would be closer to a moot point.

And ditto Gavriel.  I think Collins and Snowe are too genuinely friendly with McCain to agree to be on his rival's ticket.

lymon,

The Democratic party already wins with women.  What it needs are votes elsewhere.  Latte liberal is not a demographic except in the mind of Karl Rove and as a smear against Democrats.

I don't get it.  If he put Hillary on the ticket as VP, wouldn't Obama already be hiring a Republican woman?

Neither Collins nor Snowe would accept in any case.  They are not that estranged from the Republican party.  What do you think the Democrats reaction to Joe Lieberman on the Republican ticket would be?  Do you imagine they would think that McCain was reaching across the aisle?  No way.  The reaction would be the Joe Lieberman is a traitor and there would be nothing but fury.  Lieberman might be sufficiently estranged from the Democratic party to slap all his one-time friends in the face that way, but McCain wouldn't be that stupid.  There is no reason to think that Collins or Snowe is on such bad terms with the Republicans, quite the contrary.  

No, I'm sorry.  If Snowe wants to be relevant she needs to step up to the plate and switch parties.  Until she does that, she is just a Northern Trent Lott.  I don't think she should be rewarded for harkening back to the era of Nelson Rockefeller (or, more recently, Lincoln Chafee), she should be beaten along with Susan Collins.

Quite right poldpf.

I also think a VP shoudl bolster the bona fides of the candidate, e.g. someone with executive experience or foreign policy chops.

Olympia Snowe is not Brad Henry. Ergo, she should not be Obama's VP.

Next?

What would Snowe or Collins bring to the campaign as Obama's VP? There are women who are so upset by Hillary's defeat that they'd rather stay home than vote for Obama, and having another woman on the ticket might bring back some of them. There are lots of advantages for Obama and the ticket here:

1) see above

2) They're not Hillary.  (This matters to a lot of voters, given her negatives.)

3) They're not married to Bill. (Ditto, but not quite the same as #2)

4) Either of them as Obama's running mate is one less Republican in the Senate (except on tie votes).

Whether either Snowe or Collins would want the job, I have no idea. But they're about as Republican as Lincoln Chafee, who would probably still be in the Senate if he had switched parties.

I had been thinking of Janet Napolitano (from Arizona, no less!) for Veep, but then someone in another  blog was writing about "converting" Snowe and Collins in order to increase the Democratic majority, and nominating one of them for VP occurred to me when I read that. About two minutes after I wrote a comment to that effect, I saw this blog entry. I guess there's a meme out there.