Three local web publications boldly declared this month that the Republican nominee for Vice President would be local Republican Rob Portman.  In addition to The Dealer's prediction, CincyNation and HinesSight were also calling it for Portman.  (The Dealer did correctly predict the first half of the Democratic VP nominee's last name, Bayhden)

Since McCain had announced that he would reveal his VP pick on Friday in Dayton, local boy Portman seemed the obvious choice.  Knowing that veep contender Rob Portman lived near Dayton was just the kind of insider information that could potentially lift a local website to Drudge-like notoriety.  Unfortunately, no predictions were successful.

In hindsight though, McCain's choice of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin couldn't have been any more obvious for a few reasons:

• Geraldine Ferarro led the movement to convince McCain that there is a huge insurgency of liberal Democrats just waiting for a hard right wing woman to be nominated VP so they can vote Republican.
• Having left his first wife for a much younger beauty, McCain couldn't pick any of the much more qualified older Republican women.  He needed someone who could keep him alert on the campaign trail, or rather, someone's butt.
• The most obvious clue that McCain was going to pick a far-right religious extremist who believes that the universe is 6000 years old?  He made his announcement at Dayton's Nutter Center.

Despite having almost 6 months to vet and decide on a running mate, McCain finally made his choice late Thursday night.  In response to accusations that he made an impulsive decision on someone he'd only met once - and without properly vetting Palin (who is under investigation), McCain drew on his military experience.

"Why vet when I am one?" he asked reporters.