Most on the right, understandably, want McCain to show that he cares by picking a solid conservative to be his running mate. While I would also like to see this in theory, in practice, most of the conservatives I can think of are doing so much good in their current positions that I’d hesitate to waste them. Whether it’s Tom Coburn in the Senate, Paul Ryan in the House, or Bobby Jindal at the state level, they’re all serving an important function in fighting for conservative principles, often against a Republican Party that has embraced big government and abandoned a commitment to reform. It’s hard to see them being more effective in a VP capacity within a McCain administration — and that’s if the ticket wins.
