Who’s Going to be the Veep?

And now it’s time for the final run in the presidential nominating process. Hilary and Barrack are going down to the final buzzer. McCain is on to the next round of the playoffs. And the world waits with baited breath to see if Al Gore will screw everything up again by throwing his name in as a third-party candidate. The conventions should be pretty exciting. (riots, anyone?) But let’s pause for a second and examine another issue of the race, who will be the vice-president candidate for the one party that’s decided?

Let’s take a look at the McCain ticket. All sorts of names have been thrown around, with a vast difference in experience, strength, and geography. First of all, Mitt Romney. I personally think that these two can not possibly co-exist in the same county, let alone the same ticket. Romney wanted to be president, he dragged McCain through the fire from time-to-time during the campaign, he seems to be positioning himself for another run next time through, and now he’s supposed to be the guy who preaches the gospel of John McCain’s America? Not bloody likely, if you ask me.

How about Florida Governor Charlie Crist? Swing state, charismatic, relatively young, popular, and somewhat more conservative than McCain. But let’s look at the one issue that will tank Crist, and possibly the Republican Party in this election: the housing market’s effect on the economy. Florida’s housing market is going into the tank faster than the Lions do at the midway point of the season. They are consistently in the top three of house foreclosures, and the average price keeps going down. This could doom Florida’s economy come November and would cast a huge shadow over what Crist brings to the ticket. He’s also a bachelor, and how will that play with “Family-Values” conservatives.

There’s South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford and Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty. Though they most likely suffer from the worst ailment a potential VP can have: low-voltage names. You want someone a little sexy on the ticket, and while Pawlenty and Sanford are up-and-comers in the party, they are probably another election cycle away from being house-hold names.

Then there are the hard-core party conservatives. Hailey Barbour from Mississippi, Rob Portman from Ohio, Condoleezza Rice, and assorted others. They all have baggage left over from the Bush administration, and McCain may want another centrist on the ticket depending on who he’s running against. Nobody knows who Portman is, Barbour is too much of a wild-card from a small state, and Rice has far too much of an association with W for McCain to put her in the number two spot. (Though it would defuse the “First-Woman” “First African-American” argument)

Which could leave McCain with the seemingly logical choice, according to some conservatives: Senator from Texas, Kay Bailey Hutchinson. Pretty conservative, can woo a few moderate and Republican women if they are running against Hilary Clinton, FROM TEXAS, popular, fiscally-responsible, and did I mention she’s FROM TEXAS. The lone-star state is absolutely vital for the Republicans in this election and with McCain as the candidate; it is far from a given. Hutchinson would all but sew that up, and probably gets votes in California and most parts of the South. Seems like it would be a good choice, though she has said that she doesn’t have a lot of interest in leaving her Senate seat.

This is certainly a varied field. Only Senator McCain knows who’s on the short list and who will ultimately give him the best balance, and the best chance to win.

I personally like two of the “dark-horse” candidates: Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindall and Alaska Governor Sara Palin.

Jindall is young (35), popular, charismatic, and does well in conservative circles. His major flaw, according to insiders, is his relative lack of experience. While this could be a bit of a drag on the ticket, McCain has experience galore. This could easily be spun as an energizing, a youthful face for the GOP. Off-setting the age factor and bringing southern-conservative voters to the polls could be very important for the Republicans.

And that brings me to my favorite candidate: the woman from the North, Sara Palin. She’s young (44), very popular, a fantastic public speaker, conservative, pro-life (5 kids!!), and stacks-up very well against Hilary Clinton amongst female voters. She brings a tremendous amount of Energy Policy experience, a key issue. And those who mention her name in Republican circles have been glowingly positive about her, with the exception of her relative lack of experience and small-state residence. She would be a very strong running mate, and she’s kind of a babe. Truly a woman that could garner some cross-gender support.

With that being said, it’ll be Mike Huckabee.

But it’s fun to talk about though.

Spring time… Again?

It’s spring time again in Mid-Michigan and it’s easy to see when you look around at the glorious signs of the season. The robins are returning, the trees are starting to bud, the weather is getting warmer, baseball is back on TV, and smell of tear-gas drifts playfully around East Lansing.

For those who didn’t get a chance to see any of the footage or read any of the reports on “Cedar-Fest ‘08″, I encourage you to check out the story under the Local News section of this website. It is a great demonstration of the out-of-control behavior that too many college students are once again exhibiting. To be sure, the riot that ensued early Sunday morning, April 6th was perpetrated by a minority of MSU students (almost 50% of the arrests were people who don’t go to Michigan State). But far too many students were involved for this issue not to be addressed.

Perhaps the most discouraging aspect of this is that a lot of people were openly taunting the Police and basically pleading to be tear-gassed. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never stood in front of someone with a gun and asked them when they were going to shoot me. What kind of mind-set exists when this is considered a typical occurrence?

My view on this is that the culture surrounding parties at MSU, and many other college campuses as well, has changed; and not for the better. This is no longer about drinking a little, dancing a little, screaming at the top of your lungs and playing music too loud. That is pretty much expected and can be dealt with. What is occurring now is malicious destruction of property, disrespect for authority, and a complete lack of regard for others. Every time something like this happens, East Lansing suffers. Rioting is now synonymous with MSU and East Lansing. That’s a shame, and it’s time we hold those who perpetrate this responsible.

I would propose that authorities take a look at the you-tube videos and the news footage and arrest or fine absolutely everyone who appears, regardless of whether they were “innocent bystanders” or not. Until there is a severe penalty for this, this kind of thing will continue to happen. I think we can all agree that this is unacceptable.

For those students who feel they are being painted as riotous and disrespectful unfairly, I sympathize. But if you truly believe this, then it is time for you to mobilize and put a stop to this type of behavior. The underlying principle in almost all aspects of life should be to treat others with the respect that you in turn wish to be treated. I think I remember my kindergarten teacher telling me something like that. Perhaps a good lesson for today’s MSU community to embrace.