The Crisis With Iran Is About To Escalate

There was an important item of interest in world headlines yesterday. Ehud Olmurt resigned as the Prime Minister of Israel. His resignation (due to an ongoing scandal) paves the way for a new Israeli Prime Minister in the Fall.

This new leader of Israel will have several difficult choices to make concerning that country's security. At the top of the list is the option to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities if the United Nations cannot get Iran to stop enriching uranium. The truth is that the Western World and countries throughout the Middle East are very concerned that Iran may now be less than one year away from having the capability to produce a nuclear weapon.

In fact, the deadline given by the West for Iran to decide on its latest offer expires next week. Under that offer, sponsored jointly by the US, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China, Iran would not expand its uranium enrichment program while the international community refrained from imposing further sanctions. This phase would last six weeks, possibly paving the way for suspension of enrichment and more comprehensive talks.

Iran has shown no intention to accept this offer to date. They have already defied two rounds of United Nations sanctions. A refusal to accept this latest offer by Iran in the next few days will lead to an escalting international crisis and a new round of U.N. sanction proposals in September. Tensions will rise in the Gulf. Oil and gold prices will increase again. The prospect of war with Iran will escalate.

We will follow this story closely in the days ahead.

Republicans: Top Three For VP

Like the Democrats, the Republicans have many qualified people who would make excellent selections for the V.P. spot on a ticket with John McCain. In election 2008, McCain should be looking for a person that can bring electoral votes in a swing state or a state that went Democratic in 2004. John McCain needs someone younger than himself for voter demographic balance. The V.P. selection needs to have experience managing a state and have an understanging of the economy. Both of these areas are current weaknesses of the Republican Presidential nominee.

Two men that have been mentioned for the Republican Vice Presidency are Florida Governor Charlie Crist (who helped McCain secure the Party's primary election with his timely endorsement) and Bobby Jindal of Louisiana. Jindal is governor of Louisiana and is a rising star with Republican conservatives. While both men would make excellent choices on a Republican ticket, McCain should be able to win Florida's electoral votes without Crist and Jindal has said that he is not a candidate for VP and is probably too young anyway.

The name of Tom Ridge has been mentioned as a potential VP possibility, but his pro-abortion position would split the Republican Party's national base of support even if he did make the state of Pennsylvania more competitive for McCain. Mike Huckabee finished second in the Republican Primary but outside of motivating the Evangelical voter it is hard to see what he would bring to the 2008 Republican ticket in the fall.

That leaves the following top three Republican candidates for VP:

Mitt Romney- Its hard to see why the former Massachusetts Governor and McCain primary election rival would not be selected as McCain's running mate. He has been effective in raising money for John McCain in the last two months. He is liked by the Party's conservative base (except for Evangelicals). He has run a state and cleaned up the Olympics. He is a successful private businessman with a real understanding of the U.S. economy. He could deliver the electoral votes of Democratic Michigan where he is very popular and even help the McCain campaign in New Hampshire as well.

Tim Pawlenty-The Governor of Minnesota is young and dynamic. Pawlenty is a good friend of McCain. He would certainly make Minnesota (usually a Democratic State) competitive. He was a former House of Representative's majority leader. Pawlenty has an excellent track record as a reform Governor in Minnesota. He has balanced Minnesota's budget three times without raising taxes while enacting a property tax cap. Pawlenty has even reformed the way teachers are paid through a nation-leading performance pay plan.

Joe Lieberman-If McCain wanted to reach out to Democrats, he could select his old friend, Joe Lieberman. Lieberman is strong with independents and would help bring votes in several swing states. It would signal a maverick ticket to offset Democrat Barack Obama's campaign of change.

Look for McCain to choose among these three men in the next two weeks. The likely choice is Mitt Romney but Tim Pawlenty would bring a lot to a Republican ticket in election 2008 as well.

Democrats: Top Three For VP

Barack Obama will soon choose his Vice Presidential running mate. There are certainly no shortage of qualified Democratic candidates. However, his choice needs to provide the ticket with the following: 1. Add experience to the ticket. 2. Add electoral votes by appealing to a specific demographic of voters. 3. Come from a swing state in election 2008 or a state voting for the Republican party in 2004. The choice for V.P. cannot upstage Barack Obama and cannot be involved with controversy or bring negative publicity that can detract from the 2008 campaign. Based on this criteria, the following Democrats are likely not under consideration; Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, John Edwards ( He currently is involved in a messy National Enquirer story)and Joe Biden (past plagerism) . Sam Nunn would provide extensive foreign policy experience with twenty years as Chairman of the Armed Services Committee but his selection would bring a washington insider that would not fit into the campaign theme of change. So, who is on the short list of likely candidates to share the 2008 Democratic ticket with Barack Obama? Here is the eWorldvu.com top three for Democratic V.P. :

Kathleen Sebelius-Governor of Kansas would place that state in play. Sebelius on ticket would bring the female vote. Ticket of a black man and a female would certainly signal change for the Democrats in election 2008.

Tom Kaine-Governor of Virginia for the last two years. He would put that Republican state in play. He appeals to Catholics and middle class white voters.

Evan Bayh-Senator from Indiana and former Governor of the State. Appeals to Catholics and white Middle Class voters. He comes from a swing state in election 2008. Brings a moderate to the ticket and has recently stated his interest in the number 2 slot.

Tomorrow we will look at the Republican top three for V.P..

100 Days To Go in The 2008 Presidential Election Campaign

100 Days to go in the 2008 Presidential election. The Obama campaign is concerned that after his week long foreign photo opportunity courtesy of the American media that his poll numbers have not yet reached 50%. They are also concerned that John Mccain remains closely behind (3%) according to Rasmussen.

Republicans worry that this is a Democratic year due to hostile voters because of a bad economy and a couple of never ending wars. There is concern that McCain is running a campaign that is far too passive. The Veep selections are next and then the conventions and 3 debates. This looks like a race that will go down to the wire. At least thats the outlook with 100 days to go.

Welcome To The eWorldvu Blog

Welcome to the eWorldvu Blog. Each business day this blog will provide commentary on politics, news and world events. The eWorldvu blog will also provide links to interesting articles found throughout the internet. Your posts, opinions and comments are always welcome.