Best Republican Ticket: John McCain and Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney’s tenacity coupled with the increasing focus on the economy lead me to believe he’s the best choice as John McCain’s potential running mate — even though McCain obviously loathes him. I write the following in my New York Sun column.

“The answer to many of Mr. McCain’s problems is looming in plain, uncomfortable sight: He needs a running mate who can immediately infuse the campaign with energy, a fluid surrogate who can hammer away at Mr. Obama, stay focused, not lose his cool, and, most of all, an economic expert, who can negate, if not reverse, the Democrat’s perceived advantage in the areas of jobs and growth. The man who possesses those qualities is the same person who got under Mr. McCain’s skin during the primary fight — Mitt Romney.

To suggest that Messrs. McCain and Romney present an unlikely team is obvious to any observer of Republican politics. Mr. McCain speaks his mind and is even caustic in public; the former Massachusetts governor is smooth to the point of being slick. Mr. McCain, in both actions and appearance, is gritty, gutsy, and courageous; Mr. Romney, with his telegenic hair and shirt and tie ensembles, evokes a 1950s anchorman-like android quality.

Mr. McCain spent much time abroad in the 1960s as a prisoner of war in a North Vietnamese prison camp; Mr. Romney attempted to proselytize on behalf of his Mormon faith in the French countryside during the same period. Mr. McCain is a self-described computer “illiterate” who relies on his wife to help him online; Mr. Romney’s preferred method of presentation is computerized power point. These disparate qualities, when fused together in the odd alchemy of ticket politics, add up to a notable combination.”

Edwards and Obama

John Edwards endorsement of Barack Obama raises the immediate question of an Obama-Edwards ticket. I don”t buy it.

While plenty of structural reasons militated for yesterday’s endorsement, such as the fact that both Edwards in ’04 and Obama in ’08 relied up strategist David Axelrod, Edwards likely won’t be on a Democratic ticket with Obama.

Edwards was not an asset to John Kerry, whose top supporters still carry resentment towards the lawyer who couldn’t carry his home state of North Carolina. Edwards can’t help Obama in the South, where John McCain will win. And he hasn’t won white voters since 1998.

If shoring up Obama’s shortcomings on military affairs and foreign policy weren’t such an important need, I’d expect Obama to turn to a politician who could help with them. Prime candidates include Robert Casey of Pennsylvania and Jim Webb of Virginia.