Spring Training

Picking a vice presidential running mate is a lot like Major League Baseball’s spring training. Everyone is an expert and has something to say about the situation. All the teams are in first place. And it is imperative to be looking toward the future of the team.

Sure, the teams that are dramatically lagging toward the end of the season bring up their “players of the future” from the minors, but by then the dreams of making a difference that season are long gone. But in spring training at least one rookie who gets brought up — just to see him hit against major league pitching — makes the team and has an impact on its year.

Despite former Vice President John Nance Garner having famously said the job was worth a “bucket of warm spit,” it does have meaning to a political party, if less so to any given presidency. As an aside, some historians say the journalists covering Garner actually changed an unprintable “S” word into “spit” because they rhymed and it could be printed in the newspaper.

The wise men of politics tend to see the quadrennial Veep selection process as a look into the future of the respective parties, a move to achieve balance or fill a need on the roster. Current VP Dick Cheney was a roster-filler, for instance. At the time of his selection the ticket needed his much-vaunted gravitas.

Especially with the Republicans this year — whose presumptive nominee is 71 — the selection will be a crystal ball into the future of the party, whether it is a future leader of the conservative movement, Congress or the presumed front-runner for the Republican nomination after McCain has served out his term or terms (assuming he wins). So today, we read that McCain has invited some prospective VP candidates out to his Arizona ranch. Not to be outdone, the Barack Obama campaign leaked out word of its own search beginning in earnest. (Although one would presume that Obama’s choice will be much like President Bush’s choice of eight years ago where they will be attempting to fill the holes in Obama’s résumé rather than looking to future party leaders.)

This blog has speculated about Republican VP choices recently, here and here.

If you are looking to the future of the party Virginia Rep. and Republican Chief Deputy Whip Eric Cantor has all the qualities. The arguments are laid out in those two previous posts.

McCain is also looking at people who fill out some of his electoral needs. People like Mitt Romney, who may have some appeal to economic conservatives and who is already vetted by the media; Bobby Jindal, Louisiana’s governor; and Florida Gov. Charlie Crist.

There have been plenty of others mentioned. But what do you think, Pundits Blog readers? Rather than some of the vitriolic back-and-forth in some of the comments, what do you think about the VP mating dance, who brings what to the table and why?

This “spring training” time is a short period when the day-to-day is set aside and we have a quick opportunity to look forward. Let’s hear it.