In your options, are you implying that Barbour would be the best person to clean up the inevitable natural disaster of another Republican presidency?
The conservative base hates Huckabee -- they call him a Christian Socialist. But Huckabee would give McCain his best shot with the religious base. Bottom line is this: McCain brings in the defense Republicans and the deficit hawks. But he's probably only gonna be able to appease one of the other two groups of the Republican party. Given the choice between talk radio conservatives and religious conservatives, I'm guessing he goes with the latter because I'm not sure he can truly appease the former.
Good point. Ann Coulter for the last six. Finish the surge, then kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity.
Male life expectancy is at about 75 years on average right now (in the USA), and it might be a little less for former POWs, who spent over 5 years in prison, enduring tortures. So yeah, VP position is kinda important.
That's for new borns. A person of McCain's age should expect to live another 12 or 13 years, according to the CDC. The problem is that one year of being president ages you 3-4 years. Look at pictures of Clinton or Bush the Younger at the start of their terms and at the end. No way will he survive it.
Graham is more conservative and probably better accepted by the Limbaugh types. Not to mention he's a likeable southerner.