|
John McCain. There is no way he could get the Democratic nomination for president in 2004, even if he switched parties today. But he could be the trailer on the ticket and McCain is smart enough to know his place on a third party ticket would only serve to help his nemesis Bush by siphoning independent voters away from the Democratic ticket.
Take this scenario: The fight for the U.S. Senate is tight next November. So tight that just a few hundred votes in a few states tips the Senate to 50 Republicans, 49 Democrats and 1 Independent (Jeffords) who votes with the Democrats. After letting Trent Lott appear on every talk show there is trumpeting the new work ethic of a GOP Senate and an eagerness to advance the Bush agenda, John McCain holds an impromptu press conference. With Tom Daschle, Christopher Dodd, Ted Kennedy and Jim Jeffords standing conspicuously in the background, McCain announces his switch to the Democratic party. Make that doorplate read "Majority Leader Daschle" and give the minority title back to Lott.
McCain would have to work fast because GOP Sen. Lincoln Chaffee of Rhode Island slipped last year and indicated if a tie were to occur again in the Senate makeup it wouldn't be for long and he wouldn't let that happen. Read that "Sen. Chaffee, Democrat of Rhode Island."
Letting Chaffee remain a Republican while switching to give the Democrats a majority would make McCain fodder for news magazine covers and gain him chits in his new party while causing acid reflux in Bush junior and force Cheney into being roommates with Strom Thurmond at Walter Reed Hospital. What better payback for Bush and Rove spreading lies and misinformation about McCain in South Carolina in 2000 than having a big part in tossing out the team in 2004?
McCain's addition to the ticket, especially one headed by fellow Vietnam war hero John Kerry, a close friend of McCain, would sway large numbers of independent voters. Democrats would have to accept their new convert because they want the White House back. McCain would help banish Bush junior back to the dusty heat of Crawford, Texas, and actually have important input into reforms in this country. But most of all, McCain could relax at night with the satisfaction that he helped put the nation back on track.
|
|
