Over at Commentary, Daniel Casse refutes Bill Kristol's argument today that Joe Lieberman may be the best choice available for McCain. Casse's pick is Tim Pawlenty, an interesting choice in that the Minnesota governor rarely receives significant praise among conservatives. Says Casse:

In selecting Joe Biden as a running mate, Obama chose reputation over geography. John McCain can't afford to do the same. Nor does he need to. What McCain needs are electoral votes in unexpected places. Bush lost Minnesota by 3 percent in 2004 and 2 percent in 2000. Pawlenty is also well-known in neighboring Wisconsin, a state John Kerry won by a mere few thousand votes in 2004 and where Obama's double digit lead has also been cut in half this summer. The McCain campaign will never create the national buzz or excitement that Obama has, even with a running mate like Bobby Jindal or Sarah Palin. McCain has to accept the fact that if he is going to win, he is going to win dull, carving out a tiny lead in battleground states. Pawlenty has a chance of contributing to that strategy in some small, narrowly focused way. That makes him good enough.

Casse is correct that McCain will not be able to create the buzz or excitement that Obama's selection process brought. McCain is also hampered by the fact that there is no obvious choice among the potential VP candidates who clearly helps alleviate McCain's weaknesses without bringing significant negatives. By all measures, Pawlenty is the safe choice. It is safe in that it does no significant harm to the ticket. Pawlenty brings the advantage of heralding from Minnesota and a quasi-blue collar public identity that could help McCain.

The problem with Casse's argument is that if geography (winning a state) is the major criteria McCain should take into consideration, one would be hard pressed to argue against Romney as the VP rather than Pawlenty. The San Francisco Chronicle today notes that many Democrats fear a Romney pick could seriously hurt Obama's chances in western battleground states such as Colorado, Nevada, and New Mexico. And the West isn't even the most cited region which Romney could benefit McCain; that state would be Michigan. Michigan is seen by commentators as having more potential to flip from blue to red this election than Minnesota. With Romney's family background and his ability to win the state in the primary, he could put Michigan into serious contention.

-Greg Bobrinskoy