Political Miss Cleo

In the spirit of the Oscars, I am going to predict whom each presidential candidate will chose as his vice presidential running mate.

And probably like the past two years worth of Oscar predictions, I will be wrong.

I have chosen the nominees based on the buzz that I have heard on various news outlets.

John McCain

The nominees are:

Mitt Romney

Mike Huckabee

Tim Pawlenty

Charlie Crist

Carly Fiorina

Fiorina is a joke of a possibility, Huckabee is not the direction McCain needs to lean, and Crist looks too weird.  That leaves Romney and Pawlenty, whom I believe are the two front-runners.  Though Pawlenty provides the youth that McCain needs, the possibility of Pawlenty not actually helping McCain win Minnesota is a liability.  

My prediction: Mitt Romney

Barack Obama

The nominees are:

Hillary Clinton

Joe Biden

Kathleen Sebelius

Evan Bayh

Tim Kaine

A lot of talk has focused on Biden lately, and he has a lot of strengths, but he is also a blowhard.  Clinton may still be a dark horse, but I really do not think so.  I think Obama has figured out that he does not need her in order to win, but if there is a big surprise coming, it may be that he picks her.  But again, I doubt it.  Sebelius is out because I do not believe Obama can alienate Clinton fans by picking an "other woman."  Kaine has very important demographic strengths (from the south, pretty moderate, veteran) that make him appealing, and this might be a safe bet.  Bayh may have the ability to pull in Clinton supporters, and he could deliver the hugely red state of Indiana (though Obama may be able to do this on his own), and this appeals to Obama's whole "redraw the map" strategy.  Bayh is fairly moderate, but a party line follower as well.

My prediction: Evan Bayh