McCain's Convention Problems

John McCain should be enjoying his summer upswing in national and state polls. The road gets rockier heading in. One potential nightmare for the presumptive Republican nominee: his own convention. The GOP (or most of it) will be in Minnesota from September 1-4 trying to turn the only state won by Walter Mondale into a swing state. The problem for McCain is, who does the self-described "Maverick" get to speak at his nominating convention? See, it isn't very maverick-like to have McCain be endorsed by the big wigs of the Republican party. He could use as few pictures with the Bush/Cheney crowd as possible. Further complicating matters is that most of the Republicans who have been elected in the last eight years have cosied up to Bush to get votes. So then, who do you put on stage? I suppose the people that have been floated as VP possibilities but that's a fairly thin field. Gov. Jindal might hold people's attention for a few minutes. Romney isn't exactly cut from the Maverick mold. Gov. Palin is in the middle of a scandal (and really the less said about Alaska Republicans the better). Gov. Crist could work in a pinch. McCain is going to have a hard enough time competing with the show that the Democrats are going to put on in Denver. If people realize from watching the Republican convention that John McCain really is just another Republican, he's toast. If he fills the convention with moderates and conservative Democrats (can you feel the Joe-mentum?) he risks further alienating his skeptical base. Oh this dance is going to be something.