Here.

By those criteria, McCain is a great choice. He is by all accounts an honorable man, and has walked the walk for several years now of a responsible budgeter, a good-government type, and of someone who values free markets over a "pro-business" attitude. In one possible universe, this is the future of the Democratic Party. Democrats become the party of reasonable conservatism, allied with a mildly progressive attitude toward the social issues, while the GOP continues to be the party of fanatics and the corrupt. In another, better possible universe, the Republicans become the party of responsible conservatism while Democrats have a chance to advance the progressive agenda.

Now it's not clear to me what kind of decision for 2004 is more likely to bring about the better scenario. Under one theory, if the Democrats stand their ground and fight, they're bound to win sometime -- 2004, perhaps, or else 2008 or 2012 -- and perhaps a Democratic victory will lead the GOP to reform their ways. On this theory, if the Democrats compromise too far in pursuit of victory, then the GOP never reforms and we have Scenario I. The other way of looking at it, is that if you got McCain on the ticket, the Dems might really kick some ass, albeit with a watered-down platform. Said ass-kicking causes the Republicans to realize they're doomed unless they clean up their act, and then Scenario II develops down the road.

I don't really know.

I'd vote for a Kerry-McCain ticket if it were on the ballot, and pretty enthusiastically, but I'm far from certain that would be the right way to go.

McCain is a conservative. So what? Veeps have no power. He would grin and bear it on most things, and maybe he would say that he differs with the administration on other things (abortion?). If he ran with Kerry, it would realign how Americans think about parties, which is very important.

If you're truly ABB, then, with McCain, what is lost for the progressive agenda by having a relatively conservative VP is massively outweighed by removing Bunnypants and his corrupt gang of quasi-fascist thugs from office.