Steadfast McCain ally sparks veep talk

Even through the McCain campaign’s darkest days in 2007, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty remained a steadfast ally to the Arizona senator in his bid for the Republican presidential nomination.

As a result, with John McCain as the clear GOP frontrunner and insider talk turning to speculation about his possible running mate, party insiders are now buzzing about the 47-year-old, second-term governor’s vice-presidential prospects.

“First of all, his age is attractive,” Weber says, hinting at the nearly quarter-century difference between his fellow Minnesotan and the 71-year-old McCain. “Second, he’s from outside Washington. Third, he represents a battleground part of the country. And he has a nice balance of, on one hand being totally acceptable to conservative wing of the party, especially to social conservatives, but at the same time sharing a couple of key maverick strains of thought with McCain.” Read more @ Politico

Oregon 2008 Presidential Election

A poll of likely Oregon general election voters conducted on February 13 shows Senator Obama leading Senator McCain 49% to 40% and Senator McCain leading Senator Clinton 45% to 42%.

Obama is viewed favorably by 66% of likely Oregon voters and unfavorably by 31%.

McCain is viewed favorably by 56% and unfavorably by 42%.

Clinton is viewed favorably by 48% and unfavorably by 50%. Here are the details of Rasmussen Reports

Senior class politics

Much has been made of how Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton would both be historic firsts as president. But so would John McCain: he’d be the oldest president ever inaugurated for a first term. McCain boosters, understandably, don’t shout about this from the roof tops. But there is reason to think based on the Republican primaries that he has special appeal to elderly voters in the way that Obama does to African-Americans and Clinton to women even if the effect is less pronounced in McCain's case.

McCain’s support among seniors might well grow in a general election match up with Obama. As Jonathan Alter points out in Newsweek, the age gap between the two of them would be the largest ever between the two major party nominees in a presidential election and given the youth triumphalism that there is on the periphery of the Obama campaign it is easy to imagine elderly voters gravitating towards McCain.

Encouragingly for the Republicans, four of the five states with the highest proportions of seniors are swing states. McCain’s age might turn out not to be a handicap but a crucial boon to his candidacy. See more of James Forsyth

Some Superdelegates See the Value of Waiting

As Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton scramble to woo superdelegates, some Democratic superdelegates say they have little incentive to choose sides early if the presidential nomination fight may not be decided until, or just before, the party’s convention in August.

“The power of the superdelegates at this point is to hold out,” said Rep. Marcy Kaptur , one of several Ohio lawmakers who has yet to make an endorsement with less than three weeks left before the March 4 Buckeye State primary.

“I’m going to hang loose,” said fellow Ohioan Tim Ryan .

Ryan and Kaptur are in good company sitting on the sidelines for a variety of reasons, including the personal political risks and rewards, leverage on an issue or set of issues, and undetermined personal preferences. Read more @ CQ Politics