I've gotta say, as a Democrat, none of the alleged finalists really scare me. Mitt Romney is a transparent fraud who not only adds to McCain's how-many-houses problem and has dozens of anti-McCain quotes on the record, but the Mormon thing will likely do something to depress base turnout. Lieberman has that handicap of not actually being a Republican, not to mention a surprisingly liberal voting record; I'd just love to see the party torn apart by a pro-choice pick of him or Tom Ridge who- if memory serves me- was generally considered a failure at running homeland security. As for Kay Bailey Hutchison, wouldn't her and McCain side by side look like somebody's grandparents?
Tim Pawlenty, even though he'd be crushed Bentsen/Quayle-style in a debate with Biden, is clearly the best choice, and McCain would be nuts to pick any of the above clowns instead of him.
Chris Orr has a good point on this:
For the moment, McCain has to some degree the best of both worlds: a strong pro-life record to peddle to conservatives, and the widespread sense among liberals and moderates--vividly demonstrated by clueless Clintonite-turned- McCainiac Debra Bartoshevich--that he's kinda sorta pro-choice, or at least ambivalent on the subject. (George W. Bush rode a similar strategy of courting conservatives through targeted appeals and surrogates, while maintaining a broader image of moderation, straight to the White House in 2000). What McCain presumably wants, then, is for the subject of abortion to come up as little as possible: The more he's forced to talk about it, the more he'll inevitably upset this delicate balance.If he picks a pro-choice running mate, however, he'll have to talk about abortion a lot. There will be protests by pro-lifers and demands that he declare, loudly and repeatedly, his commitment to the pro-life cause in general and to placing anti-Roe justices on the Supreme Court in particular. He will have to make abundantly, emphatically clear that he, and not his pro-choice veep, will be making any and all executive decisions regarding abortion. He will be forced, in short, to dynamite his calculated ambivalence.