A conversation with a McCain adviser confirms my belief that the Tom Ridge boomlet is a clever bit of misdirection. I think John McCain is having Ridge "run a pick" for the real pick. First, look at this collection of factoids:
1) My pal Rich Lowry over at The Corner reports that Team McCain has been "calling key state GOP officials around the country the last couple of days and sounding them out about the consequences of a pro-choice VP pick." Ridge is pro-choice.
2) Ridge had a pretty liberal record on foreign policy from his time in Congress, including supporting a nuclear freeze.
3) Ridge will be 63 at the end of the month.
4) Ridge is a Bushie, best known for the much-ridiculed color-code terror alert system. I don't think he left his post as head of Homeland Security with an enhanced reputation in D.C.
5) Ridge would reinforce the "alpha male" vibe of the ticket. (Same goes for Giuliani.)
Me: Oh, I have no doubt McCain is considering a pro-choicer, but that person isn't Ridge. (Just a ploy to gauge activist reaction.) I think it's actually former eBay CEO Meg Whitman , the person McCain mentioned at the Saddleback forum—in response to a question he apparently had in advance—as one of the wise persons he would consult with as president. Superstar CEO, technology/Internet leader, globalization expert, woman, a different kind of Republican, fly fisherman (!), young (just turned 52)--Margaret Cushing Whitman ticks a lot of boxes, folks. Plus, the Romney people inside the McCain campaign like her, though perhaps not as much as their old boss. But it would be a risky move for a candidate just a few points back in the polls. Yet if Obama chooses Joe Biden , as insiders expect, that would present an interesting opportunity for McCain to make a historic pick.
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