If Facebook members had their way, the 2008 election would be a contest between Barack Obama/Hillary Clinton and John McCain/Mike Huckabee:
Among Democrats on the popular social networking site, Hillary Clinton is far and away the favorite to be tapped as Barack Obama's running mate. For John McCain, Mike Huckabee leads the prospective vice presidential pack. [...]Clinton is trailed by John Edwards, who is backed by 18 groups with nearly 2,000 members. He's followed by Bill Richardson with 514 Facebook supporters, putting the New Mexico governor slightly ahead of Joe Biden, who has 510 fans hoping Obama puts him on the ticket.
The Democratic frontrunners are followed, in descending order, by Jim Webb, Kathleen Sebelius, Al Gore, Wes Clark, Chuck Hagel, Evan Bayh, Mark Warner, Claire McCaskill and Janet Napolitano. [...]
Among Republicans, Huckabee (3,697 Facebook supporters) and Mitt Romney (over 2,700 supporters) are the favorites to share the ticket with McCain. But aside from McCain's former presidential rivals, few GOP politicians seem to be generating much buzz on the site.
Bobby Jindal, Sarah Palin and Condoleezza Rice have a few hundred supporters each, just a fraction of the frontrunners' total. They're followed by Haley Barbour, Fred Thompson, John Thune and Mark Sanford.
And Charlie Crist, who regularly tops speculation among political observers, draws just 11 supporters. One of them is Canadian.
So, bearing in mind John Nance Garner's famous valuation of the vice presidency, does any of these candidates satisfy your requirements? Is there a name missing that you'd like to see in serious consideration? Would any of these people change your mind about voting for your particular candidate?
I have to admit that though I'm not much inclined to vote for McCain, the choice of a really good vice presidential candidate might make me consider it.
Oh, and what do you (especially those of you who might vote for Obama) think of Sam Nunn as a vice presidential possibility?
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Crist makes sense for McCain because it virtually guarantees him Florida's electoral vote, something none of the other choices can compare to. Jindal would be a disaster because standing next to McCain he would really make McCain look older than he is and image is everything.
Nunn makes little sense for Obama because he is been out of office for so long the public response outside of Georgia will be, "Sam Who?"
Forgive me for butting in here as a non-USian, but I do have a question: When last was there a running mate (far less a succesful one) who had been running his own campaign for the top slot earlier on in the same cycle? No doubt there will have been some, but off the top of my head, it seems not to be the tradition for candidates to propose a veep they had been campaigning against just months earlier. Sorry, Hillary, John, Huck, and Mitt.
Bush's father ran a very tough race against Reagan.
I was going to mention GHW Bush too.
Heck, he used to call Reagan's policies 'voodoo economics' during the primary.
Apparently, getting the co-star spot on the ticket changed his views.
Lyndon Johnson made an attempt at campaigning against JFK, though not a very serious one.
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