I wonder who they have in mind for the job.

With the names of unacceptable candidates being bandied about as possible picks, conservatives should bear in mind that they are not powerless with respect to McCain’s choice. The delegates to the Republican convention have real clout. Even McCain’s own delegates should be willing to use their power, if necessary, to pursue the party’s (and McCain’s) best interests.

Those rules are such that delegates cannot vote against the presidential candidate’s vice-presidential pick. But that pick needs a majority of all delegates to win the nomination, and delegates are allowed to abstain. If a majority of six states’ delegations support another vice-presidential candidate, meanwhile, they can force a floor vote on that alternative. Six delegations are all that is required to contest a portion of the platform, too.

A convention battle, just what the GOP needs after the Democrats have finished killing each other in Denver. Exit question: How bad would the pick have to be to make a move as contentious as this worthwhile? Huckabee bad, or merely John Kasich bad? And if this is the way to go, why let the nominee choose his own VP anyway? Just do it at the convention or else make the second-place finisher in the primaries the vice presidential candidate. It would have been fun watching Huck and Mitt downshift this past week from “John McCain isn’t the answer” to “John McCain is the answer, but only if I’m running alongside him.”