Another notion: if Hillary wins, and DOESN'T select Obama as her running mate, McCain can. The poor lady won't stand a chance of winning at that point.

Michael, Pueblo, Colorado, US

editorialstaff net notes that McCain has an immediate low risk option, to save the world, as his hero Ronald Reagan did, for another generation. If Mac secretly agrees to publish his list of VP choices with Joe Lieberman as first among equals, after his old friend begins, Feb 12, 08, to caucus with their new instant GOP Senate majority, they will win the war, the election, and the hearts and minds of every loyal American. Ronald Reagan's election scared the hell out of the Iranian hostage takers. They let our people go, to avoid immediate certain death to their regime. Imagine the same despots reaction to Mac and Joe, as they create an instant Republican Senate majority, eliminating the terrorist's most valuable supporters, the present disloyal democratic majority. Shamelessly, we ask Joe to secretly agree to allow Mac to choose Condi Rice as VP, neutralizing the Hil-Bil-Obama race card advantage and making the Dem's minority status in the Senate, permanent, with a landslide win.

Franklin D. Lomax, Alexandria, Virginia, USA

Surely Barack Obama could have stood as a white candidate. He has played his own race card by choosing to stand as black when his parentage is equally divided between two colours.

Jane Donald, Glasgow, Scotland

The Petraeus option assumes that come November Iraq will be going better than it is now. The level of violence is creeping up and the Mahdi Army (by far the largest armed anti-US force) may well end its ceasefire. Petraeus claim to fame is the "surge" and if by the summer its revealed as having failed what possible good will he be on the ticket? McCain's best bet is Joe Lieberman.

Michael Shannon, Kabul, Afghanistan

Gen. Petraeus is among the brightest stars in America's Officer Corps. He's being touted for the top spot at NATO Headquarters. Why would he ditch the chance to be SACEUR, to leap at the chance to play second banana to John McCain? The very idea points up one of the great weaknesses of contemporary ideas of democracy, that being seen on television equates with the posession superior wisdom and boundless ambition. We confuse celebrity with accomplishment, and see the process for choosing the most powerful man in the world as little more than an extension of American Idol.

peter, miami, fl

I really think he should get Condi Rice. What a ticket that would be!!

Juanita McLain, Austin , TX

Tariq Yes, the consititution bars anyone holding more than one federal office at a time.

JL RONISH, seattle , usa

Is there any constitutional bar to having an active member of the armed forces nominated to the presidency or vice-presidency, or appointed to cabinet? American posters, please reply.

Tariq, Toronto, Canada

There have been some truly strange choices made when it comes to the VP slot. Probably the strangest was Bush 41's picking the young Dan Quayle. Supposedly this was because Bush was told Quayle looked just like Robert Redford and would attract women voters (apparently Bush had never actually met Quayle or Redford). Nixon took the shadowly Spiro Agnew who ended up pleading nolo contendre to graft charges. A desperate Walter Mondale picked the first woman in an attempt to solidify his support (in New York no less where he should have been strongest). Eugene McCarthy claimed he would take Martin Luther King's wife Coretta if he got the nomination. He didn't. Hubert Humphery's first choice, Tom Eagleton had undergone shock therapy and showed up at his news conference in socks of different colors (from each other). HHH then decided he needed the Kennedy name but had to settle for a shirttail relative named Shriver. So you never know about these thing

JL RONISH, seattle , usa

I agree Petraeus would be the dream candidate. But if it doesnt happen, how about Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi? He is conservative in every sense of the word, very popular and came out of Katrina looking good.

Adam Johns, Cardiff, UK

First, McCain has the Military Conservatives in the bag; he does not need any further reinforcing. He is also very good among independents; it is the Social and Fiscal Conservatives he needs to attract.
Second, Fred Thompson would be a good choice. He attracts the right people and is known not to cause too many ripples (in a Presidential candidate, that is a bad thing; as a Vice-president, that is what any President is looking for). Thompson is also a known good friend of McCain. The problem is that they are both not-young, and McCain and Thompson do have their political differences.
Third, Romney would be a good VP if it was not for the fact that there is some dislike between them beyond policy differences. Also, Romney did not loose just because McCain ran a better campaign; some people do have serious issues with him.
Fourth, if McCain were to choose Huckabee, the Fiscal Conservatives would simply walk out of the Party en masse instead of simply moaning as they are doing now.

Frederick Davies, Oxford, UK

Fred Thompson should also be considered as the VP running mate - He would pull the right wingers into line with the moderates to ensure a victory for the Republicans -

William Taylor, London, UK

McCain's main strength as a candidate (some would say only strength) is national security. So it is hard to understand how anybody, even over there, could concieve of the idea that he needs an army general as a running mate. The main requirements of a vice presidential choice are to add regional balance to the ticket and/or deliver that person's home state to the McCain column in November.

JL RONISH, seattle , usa

Garner described it as 'warm piss' not 'warm spit'. Also the nomination for the Vice-Presidental candidate for the Republicans is of vital importance to us all - McCain is in his 70's and has already had cancer so there is a chance that he may not see his term out - not that I wish ill health on him. The republians need another politician - Romney or Huckabee would be ideal so in the event of an untimely death we aren't left at the whim of another madman.

Timothy Murray ESQ, London,

Nightmare ticket is more like it. Two military guys calling the shots, and I do mean literally. Furthermore, does Mr. Hames read the papers? This myth spun by the Bush White House about the surge is sadly just wrong. Today we read of 53 people murdered in Iraq in a bombing; earlier in the week it was 40 some. Yesterday we read of 7 US soldiers blown up. And these were just one-offs. The daily killing continues relentlessly with beheaded bodies of Iraqis showing up regularly. What decrease in violence there is in Iraq is as much due to the fragile, likely temporary, agreements among the tribes, and to the tribal cleansing of many areas, including much of Baghdad. And what can we say of progress toward national reconciliation, division of oil revenues, and a credible parliament and government? Nothing. With this kind of "success," it is unlikely Petraeus would bring much to the Republican ticket.

Marcia , Cincinnati, Ohio

So how does my Little Rascal parable even remotely relate to your McCain/Petraeus op-ed you ask? To me, your wishing for a McCain/Petraeus ticket is EXACTLY like Stymie wishin' for a mere, albeit scrumpdilicious, watermelon. I say, if you're gonna wish for an extremely unlikely dream ticket, why not wish for a truly perfect dream ticket, as in a Romney/Petraeus pairing! That way we'd have a four-star CEO to get America on back on track financially and a four-star general to keep America on track in the war on terror!

Sincerely,
Joseph Crowley

Joseph Crowley, New York, New York, USA

General Petraeus may have worked a miricale with the US strategy and its implementation but I hardly see how that makes him fit to be selected as the alternate US President - a choice made even more stark by the reasonable chance that he could inherit the job sometime in the first four years. Somehow I think democracy is better served by putting some space between the elected government and serving military officers. Just ask Pakistan.

Bruce, Canberra, Australia

"America has a long tradition of looking to military leaders in times of turmoil."

And almost to a man they have made lousy presidents.

CT Barbarian, Fairfield, CT

Please don't summarily dismiss Sarah Palin!

Absent possibly Gen. Petraeus, Gov. Palin IS MCCAIN'S BEST VEEP CHOICE FOR NUMEROUS REASONS!

Ted, Boston, MA

A brilliant move

L Dugdale, Rancho Mirage , ca / usa

Unfortunately, General Petraeus would not bring balance to a GOP ticket, something that has always proven essential to a party victory in November. Far better to put someone like Romney on the ticket; someone who would help to sooth the existing wounds within the party and reduce antipathy toward McCain.

Bob Evans, Anaheim, California