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Bob Collins

That veep thing reconsidered

Go Deeper.

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Put me down in the column that says "Charlie Cook fan." I enjoy listening to his analysis. Midday today aired a speech he gave to the City Club in Cleveland last Friday. He does a nice job of sizing up the presidential candidates.

He also got me thinking -- again -- that Tim Pawlenty's name doesn't necessarily have to be associated with John McCain in order to be an attractive vice presidential candidate.

"You take Minnesota out of the Democrat column, and suddenly that 270 (electoral votes) looks pretty tough," he said.

Which also got me rethinking the notion that Fred Thompson would make a good vice presidential candidate for Rudy Giuliani (if Giuliani were to win the nomination). Will Giuliani, for all his pro-choice, New York, questionable family values warts in the eyes of conservatives really hurt him in a head-to-head with Hillary Clinton (or "H-Rod" as Cook would say)?

Are the conservatives really going to stay home on Election Day? I doubt it. The South? The election season starts by painting the south all red and it's a pretty sure bet it stays that way. Giuliani doesn't need help getting the south (if he's the Republican nominee). He might even take Arkansas.

And that reminds me of yet another comment I heard the other day on KFAN while driving home. They were talking with a political writer for, I think, the National Journal who was covering the Petraeus hearings. He said, basically, that nothing will get done in Congress at least until after the primaries when we're down to just two.

After that, the suggestion was, the finalists don't really need their "base" anymore and they're free to troll the middle.

A reminder that the political process is an adulterous process.