AC Analysis: Who Would Be the Best Vice Presidential Contender with McCain?

Mitt Romney's dropping out of the race for Republican nomination has essentially clinched McCain's long coveted title as the lead contender for the GOP sprint for the White House. However the question remains, who will he choose as his vice presidential running mate? There are some obvious choices that anyone could blunder into, but there are also a few potential running mates that may come as something of a surprise to a reader, but in truth, may give McCain his best chance to win the election.

1. Rudy Giuliani

In truth, Rudy seems to be the most likely candidate for the vice presidential nod. Dropping out after a dismal showing in Florida following his "all or nothing" gamble on that state, he immediately jumped behind McCain. It is very possible that this helped continue McCain's forward momentum, which had been largely sagging until the turn around in Florida and Super Tuesday. In return for this generosity, it would not be too surprising to learn that McCain would pick up Giuliani as his vice president - though it would be just as unsurprising to learn that the two had prearranged a deal before the Florida Primaries, whereby Rudy would endorse McCain if he was granted an invitation to be his vice president.

There are a number of advantages to taking on Rudy as a vice president - especially in their relatively similar foreign policy goals. McCain has made it no secret that he was a large supporter of the 2003 Iraq War and the subsequent military operations involved in the reconstruction there, putting potentially his entire political career on the line by wholly supporting the Baghdad Security Plan, otherwise known as the Troop Surge. Giuliani's platform, meanwhile, had been focused on the idea of "strike the terrorists before they strike you", making his foreign policy ideas very consistent with that of McCain's.

However, Rudy is also relatively socially liberal, something that has offset a large number of Conservatives and may have lost him the election. His pro-gay marriage, pro-choice ideas seemed as out of place as Ron Paul's isolationism on the GOP platform, and the national polls reflected this. However, in terms of a vice president, this can come in handy as the mildly liberal views of Giuliani may attract just enough Democrats disgruntled over the loss of their primary candidate (be it Obama or Hillary) to tip the scales in his favor.

In this super charged political climate, one of the key goals of any Republican candidate should be swooping up the disaffected Democrats who are resentful over the loss of their chosen candidate.

2. Newt Gingrich

One of the biggest turn offs many feel towards John McCain is his absence of overt conservatism. Despite, or possibly because, the fact that he was shot down in Vietnam and later subject to the typical torture that American POWs were subjected to, he has maintained an air of independence to him that hinted on liberalism. The liberals don't like his hawkish foreign policy decisions, and the conservatives don't like his left leaning demeanor - and it is very possible that a national election could be lost on the grounds of his lack of obvious alignment with the right-wing.

A vice presidential acquirement of Newt Gingrich may actually help fix this. In terms of balancing the scales, Gingrich is widely regarded as a symbol of "Neo-Conservative thought", a pejorative term thrown around by the Left frequently against the Republican party. But this dominating figure of American conservatism, whether it is true or not, may be the type of image that McCain would need to fix his ailing conservative support.

3. The Failed Democratic Nominee

This may seem bizarre, but it is not foreign to American politics. Many presidents in the past have routinely elected for their vice president someone who seems a contrast of your core values in the hopes of reassuring the American public of the balance of power in the White House. For example, only Andrew Johnson's support of the Civil War (which was then far more controversial than the current conflict in Iraq) linked him with Abraham Lincoln, but with his rapidly different social policies and even presence in a different party, he made an excellent addition to the White House staff.

With so many potential votes floundering following the bitter resentment in such a hard fought race, it would not be difficult to imagine an intelligent Republican presidential candidate picking up Obama or Hillary as their vice presidential contender, which would both offset McCain's war favoring stance to many liberals, and bring in the minority and female votes that he may otherwise be unable to acquire himself.

Though the least likely, this could possibly be the most intelligent course of action for McCain, particularly in balancing liberal disdain for the Republican party in the post-Bush years by demonstrating a split White House between a vocal far left liberal in Obama or Clinton, and his own hard line foreign policy.