OCGM-Ridge - A prediction

Four and half days from now, this will happen...it's a no-brainer. If I was advising OCGM's campaign I'd pick former Gov. Tom Ridge from Pennsylvania (barring any skeletons we have never seen before that were turned-up during vetting).

Easy case to make here:

1. OCGM will have Lieberman out there, and we saw how ineffective he was in getting support for Gore in 2000. Moreover, Jews are gonna vote how they want, and this faux Jew isn't going to seriously sway that vote.

2. Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-Minnesota) is a wild card. He's young, which only exacerbates OCGM's age problem. He's really untested on a national or even serious big political stage (Minnesota doesn't count ya'll), and he could implode. While it may not be important in the end, he'd also probably have his lunch handed to him in a VP debate with Biden. But, again, as we saw in the last 2 Presidential elections/"selections," both Lieberman and Edwards roll-over and looked highly over-matched by the brilliant *cough* mind of one Dick.

4. Mitt Romney's a total lose-lose proposition whom OCGM doesn't trust (neither would I, frankly). He carries no real state. The people in Massachusetts will undoubtedly vote Obama, and Michigan is in play a bit, but I don't buy that Romney has enough pull to make it worth the cost-benefit analysis.

5. Despite his pro-choice view on abortion, Ridge is far more centrist than Lieberman (eg: pro-death penalty/executions, 3-strikes laws) and I'm sure Ridge has no intention of seriously looking into adding to Roe-v-Wade to further protect women.

6. Also, no matter how ridiculous the Homeland Security Administration is/was/will be, Ridge fostered that in, which he will get points for looking tough, and strong against those "evil-doers." This despite everyone mocking the stupefying colors and levels of threat thing he concocted.

7. Republicans, like most Hillary Democrats, have finally begun to "come home". Neo-cons and hard right-wingers despise and distrust OCGM, but in the end, they know he would be less evil than a liberal, Obama administration.

8. He's also a VietNam Vet. Further emphasizing the OCGM's resume point home, with the military service thing. Ridge is also a disabled veteran who has experienced deafness in his left ear where he now wears a hearing aid (the hearing disability partly came from ear child ear infections, but it was exacerbated due to his service in the Army). No doubt this disability, should the OCGM take this advice, would also be exploited. It may also play into his hands during a debate...who knows. Needing extra lead time. Claiming he didn't hear a question, when he did, and getting extra think time.

9. Finally, and most importantly, Ridge alone COULD, COULD get them Pennsylvania. If the Repos keep Ohio, which I'm fairly certain they will, and they manage to snag Pennsylvania...it's hard to see Obama winning. If nothing else, it makes Obama spend a shitload of time and money on a state he should/must win.

For all these reasons and because of OCGM's "comfort level" with Ridge, he will be the VP pick for the Republican ticket...mark it down, bet the farmhouse, the hen house, and the outhouse.