When Should McCain Name His VP?

Jim Geraghty offers the GOP candidate some advice:

Veep rumors come and go. My sources hear little or nothing; I suspect that there's a short list, and if a decision has been made — and that is far from clear — McCain and maybe Steve Schmidt and Charlie Black know. McCain's old crew in Arizona isn't hearing much.

Beyond who McCain should pick, I offer one easily-ignored bit of advice: Wait. Wait until the last possible second. David Frum wrote at length at how conventions are pretty much meaningless these days, offering suggestions on how to make them more relevant.

Imagine heading into the Republican convention with the veep buzz unabated. Every political junkie in the country, and probably more than a few non-junkies, would tune in the first two nights just to see if the news broke.

And then, on Wednesday night, with the entire political world waiting in breathless anticipation, and with all of the finalists in the convention arena, the curtain suddenly rises on...

Let me offer a another reason to wait. Because the GOP convention comes second, the Obamessiah will have to name his Messiah-in-waiting first. McCain will then have the ability to analyse his choice and see what strengths he (or she) brings to the ticket. McCain should have a at a minimum three qualified candidates, vetted and ready to go, and then make his choice based on the best person to offset the Obamessiah's choice.

There might have been a slight advantage in naming the VP during the Obamessiah's World Apology Tour, but McCain still would have been largely ignored by the media, so it was wise to wait. At this point there is no advantage to revealing his choice until the convention, and I would encourage him to wait and make the most of it.

Of course, now that I've written this he'll probably make the announcement today.