John McCain versus who?

For a change I'm spoilt for choice over things to blog on, so I'll start in America.

Two big stories after a night of massive primary results: John McCain securing the Republican nomination (with thoughts now turning to his search for a VP candidate) and Hillary Clinton securing wins in Ohio & Texas which keep alive her hopes of winning the Democratic nomination.

Starting with the uncertainty over the Democratic race, there is still a lot to play for. Despite Clinton's wins in Ohio & Texas, she still trails Obama in the delegate count. Even so, she's the one talking about a "super-ticket" with her at the top. I can't see Obama becoming her VP candidate though - she's attacked him way too much for that. And with the next meaningful contest (the Pennsylvania primary, with 158 delegates up for grabs) still 7 weeks away, we can expect more of the same emphasis of the differences between the candidates.

Meanwhile (as I predicted here) the fact that John McCain has already secured the Republican nomination means he can look more and more Presidential while Clinton & Obama continue to squabble over who has the right to be the "first". McCain has now started to look at VP candidates - with Tom Pawlenty (Minnesota Governor) near the top of the list alongside former rival Mike Huckabee.

One quick qualification. As West Wing fans will no doubt point out, this is looking eerily like the final season of the popular tv series, with the Republicans uniting behind a moderate conservative while the Democrats squabbled up until the convention - eventually selecting another "first", in this case, a Latino candidate. WW fans will point out that the Dems ended up winning that race. However, as a geek who knows more than he should about that tv show, I would point out in return that it was only upon the untimely death of actor John Spencer (who played Dem VP candidate Leo McGarry) that the writers decided to let the Dems win the race for the White House. Up until that point, the Republican candidate was set to win the poll but the writers felt that they needed a "happier" ending to the series

Of course that was only a tv show...