The media propaganda machine is already pushing McCain:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1818584Thread title: Framing for the presidency: TV Movie is pure pro-McCain propaganda
And I think there's very good sense in this article saying the ticket will be McCain/Jebbie.
http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=19201E.J. Dionne, Jr.
Washington Post Writers Group
06.15.05
McCain-Bush in '08?
John and Jeb could be necessary compromise ticket for GOPWASHINGTON -- McCain-Bush in 2008?
That would be John and Jeb, the most logical Republican ticket if the party remains in the polling doldrums. If President Bush and his political maestro Karl Rove decide that the only way to create a political legacy is to nod toward the Arizona senator with whom they have battled and feuded, they will go for the guy who can win.
This scenario was outlined to me recently by a shrewd and loyally Democratic political operative with personal ties to the McCain camp before Mark McKinnon, one of the president's top media advisers, publicly confirmed that he would help a McCain presidential run if it materialized.
(snip)
If the Republicans' ethics problems worsen, McCain's Mr. Clean image will look ever more attractive to Republican members of Congress desperate to hold power. If things get really bad, many Republicans will be happy to dump House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and embrace McCain.
(snip)
And here is where Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the president's brother, could be the deal closer. Jeb has said he would not run in 2008. But that does not rule him out as a vice presidential candidate. If McCain won, Jeb would be the No. 2 to a president who will turn 72 on Aug. 29, 2008, and might well serve only a single term. If McCain lost, Jeb would have enhanced national recognition for a run in 2012. If picking Jeb is the price of winning over George W., McCain will pay it.
(snip)
No worry to the Bushies about McCain being re-elected - he'd be too old. And of course, McCain is an old man, so if he has a convenient "heart attack," or perhaps a photogenic "terra-ist assassination" after he is in office, we would be left with Bush III and a big sympathy surge if they are too impatient to wait for the next election. And you KNOW they wouldn't balk at murder if it benefitted them and they could get away with it.