President Bush and Republican nominee-in-waiting, Sen. John McCain,at the White House in Washington after the president announced his endorsement of McCain in the Rose Garden. (PHOTO CREDIT: AP) Click the play button to see what Jack and our viewers had to say.
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
Now that John McCain has clinched the Republican presidential nomination, people are wondering who fill out the number twp position on the ticket.
The New York Times reports that McCain and his advisers insist there's no short list of names for vice president. Instead, the candidate has directed his campaign to study past methods that nominees have used to pick their running mates.
Some suggest that McCain's selection of a vice presidential candidate is even more important than usual, given his age. If he wins, McCain will be 72 when he enters office. That's the oldest candidate ever elected to a first term.
Of course, there are already some names floating around out there, including several governors – like Florida's Charlie Crist and Minnesota's Tim Pawlenty – whose executive experience could be a nice plus for the ticket. Some former governors, like Pennsylvania's Tom Ridge, have been mentioned as well. Of course, there are also the former governors Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee, who were McCain's rivals until recently.
One expert says McCain has three choices: he could pick a conservative to rally the base, he could go with someone who has crossover appeal to attract independents, or he could make it a "geographical decision" and try to win a specific swing state or region.
Here’s my question to you: How should John McCain go about selecting his running mate?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
William from San Diego writes:
John McCain’s main weakness is the conservative base. Look at the numbers in Texas: 38% for Huckabee and 51% for McCain. If he goes into the general election lacking 500,000 votes in Texas, he would stand no chance against the Democratic nominee. It is vital he chooses either Huckabee or Romney, and appeals to all the conservatives he’s failed to impress.
Aileen writes:
John McCain has to pick someone with more than a room temperature I.Q. who acknowledges the diversity of religious belief in our country.
David writes:
George Bush may punk him into picking Jeb Bush.
Sky writes:
Maybe he should look over at Shady Pines. There should be plenty of his contemporaries there. He might even find one who agrees with his brilliant suggestion to keep our GIs in Iraq for 100 years!
Ed from Houston writes:
McCain should let Rush Limbaugh help him pick the VP candidate as soon as possible. It sounds by his comments today regarding a Clinton/Obama dream ticket that he will be reentering rehab again soon.
Jake from New York writes:
John McCain should choose a somewhat younger running mate with shared ideals and executive experience. I personally hope that McCain chooses Charlie Crist.
Dan from Gulfport, Florida writes:
Jack, Unfortunately, many potential candidates are in jail or soon will be. McCain might be better off if he placed an ad in the "jobs available" section of the NY Times. The nice thing is that after Dick Cheney, the bar for V.P. is so low that it won't be difficult for anyone to hop over it. My personal recommendation would be Senator Larry Craig. He would lock up the public restroom vote, and there might not be many other places Republicans will be able to find votes this year.
Vinnie from New York writes:
Jack, In order to win, he better dig up Ronald Regan.