WI: McCain chooses a Hispanic Running-Mate in 2008

[Historico]

Hey guys, I know it's been a while since I last posted anything lol, but with the recent buzz about HBO's Game Change film, it has gotten me thinking about the potential possibilities that the McCain campaign could have made interms of their shortlist. As far as what has been reported, there were no potential running mates whom were Latino/Latina.

U.S. Senators
Sam Brownback - Senior U.S. Senator from Kansas, 2008 presidential candidate[15]
Lindsey Graham - Senior U.S. Senator from South Carolina and long time McCain friend[16]
Lisa Murkowski - Junior U.S. Senator from Alaska[17]
Olympia Snowe - Senior U.S. Senator from Maine[18]
John E. Sununu - Junior U.S. Senator from New Hampshire[19]
John Thune - Junior U.S. Senator from South Dakota, endorsed McCain[16][20][21]
Joe Lieberman - Junior U.S. Senator from Connecticut Lieberman is an independent who caucuses with the Democrats. He was the Democratic nominee for vice president in 2000.[22]

U.S. Representatives
Eric Cantor - U.S. Representative from Virginia[23] (in May 2009, a source who claimed affiliation with the McCain campaign denied the reports of Eric Cantor being considered as McCain's runningmate, calling them "a complete and total joke", and blaming "Cantor’s PR people" for being responsible for the false reports.[24])
Paul D. Ryan - U.S. Representative from Wisconsin

Governors
Haley Barbour - Governor of Mississippi[16]
Charlie Crist - Governor of Florida[16][20][25]
Sarah Palin - Governor of Alaska.[16][26] Sarah Palin became the GOP Vice-Presidential nominee in 2008.[27]
Tim Pawlenty - Governor of Minnesota and Co-Chair of McCain for President[16][25][28]
Mark Sanford - Governor of South Carolina[16][25][29]

Former governors
Mike Huckabee - former Governor of Arkansas, 2008 presidential candidate[16][20][21][25]
Mitt Romney - former Governor of Massachusetts, 2008 presidential candidate[16][20][21][30]
Tom Ridge - former Governor of Pennsylvania and former Homeland Security Secretary[25]
Christine Todd Whitman - former Governor of New Jersey [31]


Others
Carly Fiorina - former Hewlett Packard CEO[20]
Tommy Franks - former U.S. Army General and former Commander of United States Central Command[citation needed]
James L. Jones- former Supreme Commander of NATO and Commandant of U.S. Marine Corps[citation needed]
David Petraeus - former Commanding General, Multi-National Force - Iraq; Commander of the United States Central Command[32]
Meg Whitman - former eBay CEO[20][21]
Mike Bloomberg - Mayor of New York City[33]

Denied interest
Kay Bailey Hutchison - Senior U.S. Senator from Texas[34]
Bobby Jindal - Governor of Louisiana for only a year, who said he wants to complete two terms[35]
Condoleezza Rice - U.S. Secretary of State[36]
Colin Powell - former United States Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff[37] Powell later endorsed Democratic Nominee Barack Obama[

Like I stated above not a single Hispanic American was on the shortlist, I guess my question for this AH is What if Steve Schmidt felt as if there was a way to fracture Obama strong minority support by choosing a Latino runningmate? I understand that the Republican party is alot more diverse than it was back in '08, but were there any Latino or Latino Republican official that McCain could have chosen? Would it come across as a dynamic move or perhaps racial pandering? Could the candidate be able to incite as much intensity in the race as Palin did? And what effects might it have on the Electoral map in '08? As well as 2012...

 

[Orville_third]

It's REALLY funny you should mention this. I'm working on a TL in which both parties have a Hispanic on the ticket in 2008. (The POD has been discussed in other places here, and it's not political.) I'm leaning towards Linda Chavez, since most others I know of are not US-born. (And one person who would go great with McCain (she and her husband endorsed him) would be even more obscure than Palin-but, alas, she's not US-born.)

 

[chris N]

The problem with Senator McCain would not be helped with a different running mate. He simply was not liked by most of the Conservative base of the Republican Party. It wasn't until he chose Sarah Palin that he got some enthusiastic support. Linda Chavez would have been a good choice but I'm not sure that anyone could have saved McCain.

 

[Mike Stearns]

The problem with Senator McCain would not be helped with a different running mate. He simply was not liked by most of the Conservative base of the Republican Party. It wasn't until he chose Sarah Palin that he got some enthusiastic support. Linda Chavez would have been a good choice but I'm not sure that anyone could have saved McCain.

The only way for McCain to win would be to somehow butterfly the Bush presidency. Perhaps Gore wins in 2000, and up to 9/11, things are basically OTL, but he bungles things even more than Bush did, yet like Bush he still manages to get re-elected. However by the end of his second term, he has a very low approval rating, making it very difficult for the Democratic nominee to win.

 

[Hyperion]

The only Latino person I can think of that would be worth anything would be Bill Richardson.

The election would come well before the minor scandal that forced him to withdraw his name for the Commerce Secretary job, some might see it as a bit of a unity ticket going across party lines for a running mate, and a lot of people that might have otherwise voted for Obama could see Richardson as a bit of a moderator to some of the more conservative ideals or agendas of McCain.

 

[BlairWitch749]

Raul Labrador would be excellent if he could emerge earlier

Maybe have him run for and win a house seat in 2004; he is one of the best speakers in the republican party

Combine this with McCain become sec def in 2005 and doing the surge 2 years earlier when public support for the war was still mixed with him resigning with success to his credit in late 2006 to start prepping to run

With a less intense anti war movement, Obama doesn't have a leg to go against Clinton and stays in the senate

Under that circumstance with Labrador as his running mate; McCain would have an outside shot

 

[1940LaSalle]

I don't know about the theory that purports no running mate could have helped McCain. I am convinced, by the way, that what Palin gained with conservatives was more than offset by losses in swing voters, put off by a candidate that could be described as Dan Quayle in heels and pantyhose. OTOH, had his VP nominee been either Olympia Snowe or Christie Whitman--both women with solid credentials, BTW--I think the outcome could have been noticeably different.

The spectre of tyro Sarah Palin in the Oval Office, I think, gave numerous voters pause, especially given McCain's (relatively) advanced age. I don't think that would have happened with Snowe or Whitman.

 

[Historico]

I don't necessarily think we would have to go for an earlier than 2008 for this one, I agree Linda Chavez would probably incite as much fervor with base as Palin did, but wouldn't her payments to the immigrants who worked for her, rear it's ugly heads again? I think Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart who represents some of Miami's suburbs might be a pretty crucial pick. He unlike his brother, was born in Ft. Lauderdale, so the naturalization issue is null. Mario is only a month and half younger than Obama, so it will be seen as a balancing factor to McCain's own age. The Experience issue, I think could still be made by McCain that even-though he had only been in Congress for five years at the point of the election, he had served in elective office at the state level since the late '80's.

So I think Mario could prove himself to be a competent VP nominee, and due to how close Florida was IOTL, I think enough Latino support could swing it back to McCain. My question is could McCain with Mario on the ticket potentially gain back the around 40% of the Latino vote that Dubya won in '04? If so, could he have a larger effect on the outcomes in Nevada, Colorado, and New Mexico? Or, would we see a larger debate about potential ethnic tensions within the Latino communities...basically will the more dominant Mexican-American population rally behind a Cuban-American VP nominee?

 

[Reylance]

The spectre of tyro Sarah Palin in the Oval Office, I think, gave numerous voters pause, especially given McCain's (relatively) advanced age. I don't think that would have happened with Snowe or Whitman.

I've often wondered just how big an issue this was, given there was so little concern about putting tyro Barack Obama in the White House.

 

[PenguinOverlord]

I think that he might have had a better chance of winning, depending on who he chose. I think that he might have still might have lost because, although I hate to admit it, Obama has more charisma than McCain

 

[Æsir]

The only Latino person I can think of that would be worth anything would be Bill Richardson.

The election would come well before the minor scandal that forced him to withdraw his name for the Commerce Secretary job, some might see it as a bit of a unity ticket going across party lines for a running mate, and a lot of people that might have otherwise voted for Obama could see Richardson as a bit of a moderator to some of the more conservative ideals or agendas of McCain.

McCain couldn't even get Lieberman, who is technically an independent and ideologically is basically a Republican, so McCain-Richardson is pretty much patently absurd. If it did go through though, the results would certainly be interesting; maybe Bob Barr surges? It would be especially interesting if he managed to get the 5 percent nationwide to receive federal matching funds in 2012; what would that mean for the party and what effect would it have on the Tea Party movement and the "Ron Paul Revolution"?