Will McCain now put a woman on his ticket?

The McCain campaign wasted no time in putting out the above ad as part of its effort to exploit the Hillary factor within the Democratic party.

For Barack himself the Hillary element could dominate the convention with the former First Lady speaking tomorrow night and Bill himself on the agenda for Wednesday. How are they going to play it?

Meanwhile the former Clinton strategist who is now a fierce critic, Dick Morris, is arguing that Obama made a massive mistake in not having a female running mate. He suggests this has now left an opening for John McCain who is set to announce his choice at the end of the week.

He goes on: “..the most important thing is that Obama did not choose a woman. He needed one. With Hillary’s evident availability for the nomination, his failure to name her or some other woman stands out starkly to women voters. It doesn’t matter to them that he chose Biden over Bayh or Kaine. What matters is that he did not choose Hillary or another woman…Now, John McCain can take advantage of Obama’s blunder by coming back with a woman nominee for president. Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison would be an excellent choice. She’s been around for decades and is not going to start making mistakes now. Her nomination would be a signal to American women that McCain takes their aspirations seriously, even if Obama does not. Hutchison is not charismatic. But her circumstances would be if she were nominated. The prospect of a woman vice president would electrify women throughout the nation.”

Having failed miserably on the Barack running mate market I’m loathe to make any suggestions – except I’ll be putting a few quid on the female contenders for the GOP ticket.

Mike Smithson