veepstakes

With rumors floating around about the potential that U.S. Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, will pick a running mate who supports abortion rights, many on the right, like Rush Limbaugh, Laura Ingraham and supporters of Mike Huckabee, are speaking up to make it clear to McCain that they would not tolerate such a choice.

However at least one of Washington state's delegates to the Republican National Convention, Catherine Brazil, who considers herself to be more than mildly conservative, does not put herself in that camp. Brazil, who is a state committeewoman from Spokane, believes that having someone who is ready to be president from day one is far more important than any one issue, and that economic and national security far outweigh issues like abortion that have no bearing on a president's main duties.

It wouldn't be a real "veepstakes" without an elected official from nearly every state in the union being considered by one pundit or another trying to make a career by successfully picking a darkhorse candidate two months in advance. Sure enough the prognosticators, mostly in the blogosphere, have made their way to the Evergreen state, as chronicled by Seattle Times' David Postman.

Politics junkies from around the nation are guessing that Sen. Patty Murray and Gov. Chris Gregoire could be on a long list of potential number twos to Sen. Barack Obama for their various political skills and to balance the ticket with a woman. Even the 9th Congressional District's own Adam Smith, an early backer of the Illinois Senator, is making the rounds.

Still no word from Republicans on Attorney General Rob McKenna or Rep. Dave Reichert for Sen. John McCain, but give it time.