Mark Halperin, Matt Drudge, etc. are buzzing about a report from Robert Novak that John McCain will make his vice-presidential selection later this week. Meanwhile, Chris Cillizza comments on McCain’s unexpected (and strategically puzzling) decision to travel to New Orleans this Thursday to meet with Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. Coincidence? Doubtful.
But does McCain really think that a 37 year old unknown with reputedly scant experience can convince the American people that he’s ready to serve as president should the unthinkable happen? Intrade, which specializes in political futures, doesn’t think so. It currently gives Jindal just a 9.2% chance of becoming the Republican veep pick — decent odds but well behind Mitt Romney at 38.5% and still trailing obscure Alaska Governor Sarah Palin at 15.0% and Minnesota’s relatively bland executive Tim Pawlenty at 11.0%.
But I’d take the Jindal veep talk more seriously than the “Intraders” for three reasons:
[1] Jindal’s more experienced than you think. Before reaching the age of 29, Jindal had already run Louisiana’s massive Department of Health and Hospitals and been named President of the University of Louisiana system. In 2001 he was nominated for and served nearly two years as Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services before entering Congress in 2005 and the Louisiana governor’s mansion in early 2008. This political resume compares quite favorably with Barack Obama’s seven years in the Illinois Senate and three-plus years in the US Senate.
[2] Jindal’s a very appealing politician. Think John Edwards but of Indian descent and without the $400 haircuts (and a lot more conservative). Anyone who caught Jindal’s appearance on The Tonight Show back in April saw a star in the making.
[3] A conventional pick just won’t do this time around. McCain’s campaign is in rough shape: a PPP poll out today shows Obama +8 in Ohio, a margin that if it holds would sound the death knell for McCain’s presidential ambitions. Obama, meanwhile, is making all the news with his tour of the Middle East and Western Europe; meetings with Karzai, Maliki, Sarkozy, Merkel, and Brown are likely to enhance his growing presidential aura. And Chuck Hagel (accompanying Obama on his trip) is close to becoming Obama’s version of Joe Lieberman. The point is that McCain needs a bold VP pick, someone who could inject some life into his decrepit campaign. Jindal — smart, charismatic, and not an old white man — could be the answer.
If Novak’s right we’ll find out later this week. Stay tuned…
Will you please stop with the “obscure” when talking about Alaska Gov Sarah Palin. It’s clearly a red herring and it’s getting to sound ridiculous. It’s a see-through ploy to attempt to summarily (quickly) dismiss her and move on, but it won’t work.
To the average American, do you think they know more about Pawlenty than Palin, for example?
In any case, considering Palin’s draw on the Hillary voter, her being at the epicenter of the domestic oil/energy debate (actually challenging Sen Reid to start drilling), amazing personal bio and family story, amazing media presence, and absolute highest popularity rating of all 50 USA governors (around 90%), she’s certainly tops Jindal (granted a good guy too) as McCain’s best pick. Wouldn’t you agree???
By the way, here’s the theme song when Sarah Palin makes her Veep center stage appearance at the Republican National Convention later this summer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWNtLt-pJik
Oh, and yes it IS gonna be Palin. McCain’s already got this new ad up which essentially announces Palin as his pick (without ever having to mention her name).
It’s even got the McCain/Palin campaign slogan vs. Obama: “Don’t hope for new energy, vote for it.” –-
http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=135403
Ted – I actually think Sarah Palin would be a very smart pick for McCain. She does have a lot of appeal to Hillary voters (although does it extend beyond both being women?) plus she’s wildly popular in Alaska. And certainly Tim Pawlenty is just as obscure as Palin. In that sense, I agree with you.
What I’m more surprised by is not Palin’s consideration for veep, but how easily people have dismissed Bobby Jindal as too young, too inexperienced, etc. Of course judgment on these issues is most importantly a matter of public perception, but I think that the public would turn out to be very receptive to a supremely talented (former Rhodes scholar) self-made son of Indians immigrants who has the political resume of Bobby Jindal. In any case, I think he warrants better odds from our friends at Intrade.
But you’re right, that McCain campaign ad does seem to suggest Palin. Or at least that McCain plans to make energy a central issue of his campagin and that Palin would be a useful ally.
I am curious if Jindal would really be a smart move. Does selecting such a young guy sort of validate that Barack Obama might be ready for office? At the very least, it would send the message that McCain trusts a 37 year old, relative unkown should anything happen to him. How is this different than saying that Obama’s inexperience doesn’t necessarily make him unfit for the role? Is this even still a valid argument?
hzl2 – it depends if we, and the public, accept the questionable proposition that Jindal is inexperienced. Plus, Jindal or no Jindal, I’m not sure the inexperienced attack will work on Obama. His time in the national campaign spotlight has demonstrated (to a certain degree) his effectiveness as a leader.
Obviously the wild card here is McCain’s age/health, which makes his veep pick that much more important. In that sense maybe he’d be better off with a more established figure like Mitt Romney, but I doubt a cautious approach will deliver him the White House.
Jindal is a great vp pick for Mccain. How can the Obama camp use the inexperience argument against Mccain’s VP when their presidential candidate has less of a record, accomplishment and experience to the very vp they are attacking! it just will not sell. If the election became a compare and contrast between Obama and Jindal’s experience then Obama will loose big time! No candidate can win if the narrative becomes about him and his opponents VP instead of him and the other party’s nominated lead candidate. If this scenario plays out which it will, Mccain will have the upper hand throughout the election because it would make Mccain a few classes above Obama….to a level where compare and contrast has to be done with his younger VP because its uncomparable to compare it to Mccain.
KC – thanks for the comment.
Now that the pick is Palin there must be some worry that Obama will be compared to Palin and not to McCain, thereby highlighting Obama’s own inexperience. But unlike with Jindal, that’s a comparison in which Obama comes out ahead. Palin has almost no resume and is a very questionable pick. You’ll note my differing opinion in comment 3, but that was before I realized Palin had no political career to speak of before becoming Alaska governor in 2006 (unless we count her time as mayor of Wasilla, population 8,500).
Plus Obama has endured the national spotlight for over a year and a half. That’s technically no qualification for office, but it’s pretty impressive.