McCain's running mate will be?

WASHINGTON — With their presidential nomination all but settled, Republicans now turn to the question that will dominate their spring: Whom will Arizona Sen. John McCain pick as his running mate?

Party activists are more interested than usual in his pick for three reasons:

• He needs to shore up support from conservatives, and the running mate is his best chance to do that;

• The vice presidential nominee could become first in line to win the nomination the next time it's open;

• It could come open sooner than eight years given McCain's age — he'd be 72 on Inauguration Day, the oldest person ever to start a presidency.

"A number of those factors are coming together to make this pick even more important than usual," said Greg Mueller, a conservative strategist and veteran of the Pat Buchanan and Steve Forbes presidential campaigns.

"Usually with vice presidential candidates, you want somebody you can work with. You also want somebody who can draw some other voters. In this case it's so important that he pick a conservative so the conservative base feels they're invested in the campaign."

The name most discussed right now is former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who continues to stay in the campaign despite the fact that he almost certainly cannot wrest the nomination away from McCain.

McCain campaign manager Rick Davis this week seemed to dismiss the prospect when asked whether Huckabee would bolster the ticket's chances at attracting change-minded voters.

"I'm not sure how much help John McCain needs being a change agent," Davis said. "That being said, I think we have other options to look at vis-a-vis the ticket."

Another frequently mentioned name is South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford. More participants interviewed at the recent Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington put him at the top of their wish lists than any other.

McCain doesn't have to announce his pick for months — certainly not until he knows who the Democrats will nominate as his opponent, and perhaps not even until just before the Republican National Convention starts in St. Paul on Sept. 1.

But as he draws up his own list, here's a handy set of names, with the pros and cons of each most often mentioned by Republicans:

Haley Barbour, 60, governor of Mississippi