McCain-Huckabee? Part 2

By Jennifer J. Foster

Published: May 18, 2008

CNN’s Political Ticker brings us this news from the Republican front:

Former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said Sunday he’s interested in John McCain’s No. 2 spot.

“There’s no one I would rather be on a ticket with than John McCain,” the former Arkansas governor said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

“Let me point out that all during the campaign, when I was his rival, not a running mate, there was no one who was more complimentary of him publicly and privately,” he said.

Huckabee went on to say complimentary things about McCain, including that he thinks McCain “has the kind of seasoning and maturity that this country needs.”

I wrote this post about the possibility/probabilty/advisability of a McCain-Huckabee ticket last Tuesday.

This whole thing is curious, and not just for the idea of Huckabee wanting to run with McCain. Everyone—I can’t think of a single exception, besides Huckabee today—everyone who’s asked whether he (or she) wants to be vice president/would consider running if asked demurs. They all say something like, “I don’t deal in hypotheticals” or “That’s Candidate X’s decision to make” or “I’m very happy serving as governor of Florida/New Mexico/Georgia right now” or some other such deflection. Huckabee’s unabashed “Pick me! Pick me!“ is strange. Maybe he knows something we don’t—like McCain would only serve one term, etc. Otherwise, why would he aggressively court McCain for the position this country’s first vice president, John Adams, called “the most insignificant office ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived?“

I can see good reasons for McCain to pick Huckabee (drawing conservatives and conservative-minded independents to the ticket, shoring up McCain’s support and stop-gapping Barack Obama’s appeal in the South, the good working relationship the men seem to enjoy), but I can also see reasons why it would be a poor decision (alienating left-leaning independents with the increased focus on religion the selection of a former Baptist pastor would bring, a lack of foreign policy experience, he won’t help McCain much in expected battleground states like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Ohio).

All in all, this whole issues confounds me. I wouldn’t have expected Huckabee to be interested in the vice presidency to begin with; I certainly wouldn’t have expected him to campaign outright for it.

What do you think? Would Huckabee be a good choice for McCain? Why or why not?

And here’s something else to consider: Is Huckabee even saying he wants to be vice president? Saying “There’s no one I would rather be on a ticket with than John McCain” isn’t exactly saying, “I want to be vice president” or “Yes, I would run and serve if asked.“ Maybe he’s just comparing the prospect of running with McCain to a hypothetical partnership with, say, Mitt Romney.