A match made in . . . where?

A match made in . . . where?
Published June 15, 2004

FROM: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/printedition/chi-0406150324jun15,1,4882990.story?coll=chi-printeditorial-hed
Perhaps it made perfect sense to someone in John Kerry's campaign, perhaps even to Kerry himself. Why don't we just go out and find a "pro-life, free-trading, non-protectionist deficit hawk" and make him our choice to round out the Democratic presidential ticket?

The next thing anyone knew, John McCain's name was being advanced all over the place, once again, as the ideal running mate for Kerry, as though the Arizona senator would fit in quite handily.

This is about the third time in this endless election cycle that Republican McCain has been heavily mentioned as a contender for one of the worst jobs in American politics. This is probably a function of two things. One, the campaign is lasting too long so mischief is being made by spunky aides and a gullible media. Two, people who are looking closely at poll numbers realize they aren't moving quickly enough in any direction and desperately want to give the Massachusetts Democrat some kind of a good pop to create the appearance of momentum.

Getting a Kerry-McCain ticket would certainly do that. The math is intriguing. Kerry picks up a 14-point advantage in polls when a hyphen is stuck between him and McCain. He keeps the 80 percent Democratic support he had and draws something like 15 percent of the Republicans to his cause. What could possibly be better?

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