Will Biden Choice Push McCain Further Towards Pawlenty?

I got the text message this morning. Yes, Barack Obama sent me a text to tell me that he had chosen Joe Biden to run as his Vice Presidential Candidate.

So Obama/Biden will likely pick up Delaware. (Relax, Delaware, I'm just playing)

There is going to be a lot of armchair analysis over the next 24 hours about what this does for the race and what this does for McCain and his Vice Presidential choice. So I'll provide mine as well.

I think the choice of Biden makes it considerably more likely that Governor Pawlenty will be Senator McCain's choice.

I'm going to set aside for a moment that Biden has said Obama isn't ready, and the Biden HAS said the country would be better off with McCain. (Those two items being reasons why Obama might not have made a smart move here since both of those two statements will be repeated ad naseum). Everyone knows that Governor Pawlenty has been a steadfast, loyal McCain supporter, and that makes it much easier for him to campaign aggressively (because he believes in the campaign and Biden simply doesn't).

The choice of Biden makes Pawlenty the obvious choice because the contrast between the two at this point in history gives Governor Pawlenty every advantage in the world.

I'm sure Democrats will say Biden has more foreign policy experience than the Governor. Who cares? Seriously. I'm going to take this inept argument off the table right now. Governor Pawlenty, if chosen, will be running with Senator John McCain. Senator John McCain will obviously lead the team on all things foreign policy, and even with Biden's level of experience, Senator McCain has more credibility and knowledge on foreign policy issues than Biden and Obama combined.

This election is going to be about Jobs and Energy, and there are few in the country as prepared to talk about hope, the future, and better yet actual results on these issues as Governor Pawlenty.

I've written it before, but Governors across the country are watching to see what Governor Pawlenty does on Energy, and are following his lead. Governor Pawlenty recognizing a balanced approach of domestic exploration, Americanization of energy, along with Conservation and renewables is the only path towards the kind of energy policy that is critical right now.

And Governor Pawlenty, with his veto pen, has been THE leader fighting pork and wasteful spending. His veto pen compliments McCain's crusade over the years against earmarks and pork. This would be an amazing team on the issue of jobs and the economy. Governor Pawlenty ensures the GOP ticket will be able to walk all over this Obama/Biden ticket on issues of jobs and the economy.

Lastly, for those of you who don't know Governor Pawlenty, he is one of the most genuine, down-to-earth, normal people you could ever know. He grew up in a family with deep, deep blue collar roots and became governor of the state of Minnesota the old fashion way, he worked for it.
Biden is commonly known to be one of the more elitist and most arrogant members of the Senate.

When the two of them stand together in a Vice Presidential Debate, the contrast will not be more stark.

What a great opportunity for McCain.