Vice-Presidential Fiction
Driving into work this morning, I happened upon Jodi Rell calling into one of the morning shows. The Governor started off the conversation by noting that she had just gotten back from Washington DC where she had talked with John McCain. As if on cue (and let’s face it, this was their cue) the hosts immediately started to talk to Rell about the possibility of her being selected as McCain’s running mate.
Can we all stop this pretense of taking the idea of Jodi Rell on the Republican national ticket seriously? Jodi Rell is not being seriously considered as a vice-presidential candidate. Heck, I’m as likely to run on the Republican ticket with John McCain as she is - in other words, there’s no chance this is going to happen.
What does Rell bring to the ticket? She’s a moderate Republican who does nothing to help McCain shore up the conservative base; she has zero name recognition outside of Connecticut; she is not a good campaigner and did poorly in the debates during the last election; and she’s from a state with seven electoral votes with no chance of carrying the state. In sum, she adds nothing to any Republican ticket. I suppose Connecticut reporters and others think it’s cute to talk with Rell about the “VP talk,” but it’s not real. And we shouldn’t pretend that it is.
Bottom line, the only Connecticut politician who even has an outside chance on appearing on any of the tickets is Lieberman. And that’s not very likely.