MUTH’S TRUTHS

Former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge is on John McCain’s the very short list of possible vice presidential running mates. The thinking is that Ridge carries Pennsylvania and that would seal 270 electoral votes for the Republican ticket.

Or would it?

Ridge is pro-choice on the issue of abortion. And even though social conservatives have all but dropped that issue as a primary focus over the last few years in favor of fighting gay marriage, the pro-life community hasn’t abandoned it altogether. The issue is still a litmus test issue for a significant number of voters.

Ridge said yesterday that he thinks the GOP would accept a supporter of abortion rights in the #2 slot, but I wouldn’t be so sure. And with Chuck Baldwin of the Constitution Party - a bona fide pro-life social conservative - in the race, social conservatives have somewhere else to go with their votes in November.

But even if the argument that McCain is pro-life so his running mate’s position on the issue is irrelevant - again, an argument I’m not sure will sell - a Ridge selection still would be problematic for the ticket with another wing of the party that has yet to line up behind McCain: libertarian-conservatives.

While some tout Ridge’s national security bona fides as the nation’s first Homeland Security chief, the snooping and erosion of individual privacy rights brought on by the creation of that department following 9/11still sticks in the craw of Ron Paul-type Republicans who also have an alternative in November thanks to former Republican Rep. Bob Barr running for president on the Libertarian Party ticket.

While Ridge may indeed put Pennsylvania into play, Ridge also would alienate two core constituencies of the Republican Party which John McCain still hasn’t locked down. Ridge would probably make that task mission impossible.

The best possible choice for Veep on the GOP ticket remains South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford. He’s young and he’s smart. He’s served in Congress, so he knows how that game is played. He’s been governor for four years, so he has executive experience which has prepared him to take over if McCain kicks the bucket in midterm. Plus, Sanford honored his self-imposed term limits pledge when he served in Congress, so folks tend to take him at his word, something few other fork-tongued politicians can say.

And he’s a hawk on spending, a rather sore spot these days in the GOP. Recall that when South Carolina legislators over-rode his vetoes of a number of spending bills in his first term, Sanford showed up with two pot-bellied pigs under each arm claiming one was named “Pork” and the other “Barrel.” Sanford is not afraid of confrontation, another ailment afflicting far too many Republicans in Washington these days.

Social conservatives like him. Libertarians like him. Independents like him. Even moderate Democrats like him.

The question is, does John McCain like him?

Posted on August 18th, 2008 by Chuck Muth
Filed under: National