The Democrats are currently divided and fighting among themselves. Twenty to 25% of Obama and Clinton supporters now say they will defect to McCain if their candidate loses the nomination. But those numbers are likely to change when the Democratic Party, as they inevitably will, consolidates around a nominee. This means that the polls that currently show McCain running very competitively with both Obama and Clinton will almost certainly change for the worse once the Democrats conclude their nominating process.
One compelling option for McCain is to change the nature of the Republican Party and indeed the electoral process in the United States in a way that has not been done in the modern era. Slated to join McCain this weekend is an independent Democrat, Joe Lieberman. The former Democratic vice presidential nominee is a strong supporter of a hawkish foreign policy, a loyal ally to McCain, and as McCain's running mate would allow for a number of arguments that will uniquely empower McCain and the Republicans in the fall elections.
By picking Joe Lieberman, John McCain can do three things he can not otherwise do. First, he runs as a centrist and a maverick, not a mainstream Republican, effectively and finally distancing himself from George Bush and turning the race into a contest between a bipartisan coalition and a more narrow Democratic ticket. This will avoid allowing the race to inevitably become a contest between a partisan Republican and a partisan Democrat -- a contrast that works inexorably to the Republican disadvantage.
Second, choosing Lieberman as his vice president allows McCain to develop a new, centrist ideology, borrowing ideas and principles from both parties. Working in a bipartisan fashion, and advocating and responding to the electorate's desire for change by indicating he will choose a bipartisan cabinet, McCain can take on the serious issues facing our country, such as entitlements, healthcare, our struggling economy and both the war on terror and the war in Iraq.
Finally, if McCain selects Lieberman as his vice presidential running mate, he creates a critically important opportunity for America -- the possibility for bipartisan coalitions in the House and the Senate to be forged in a way that will uniquely reassure the American people about what can be achieved in Washington in the future.
To be sure, this idea goes against conventional wisdom. When Karl Rove and other Republican leaders have been asked who McCain should choose as his running mate, they run through a list of prospective choices and conclude that someone like Mitt Romney would make sense, or perhaps Charlie Crist can deliver Florida, or Bobby Jindal can balance McCain's age. I think this conventional approach is wrong for the Republican Party and wrong for the nation.