<p>I agree with you Bedhead – #1 or #7. The problem is that things get a lot tougher after the convention – hard to replace someone on the ticket.</p>
<p>On the other hand… its possible that if Sarah Palin finds a graceful way to drop out after the convention, McCain could just go right ahead and pick one of his real choices (Ridge or Lieberman) -without having to face the messy prospect of protesting delegates at a convention. I expect it would have to be ratified by some sort of closed-door process.</p>
<p>There are also some issues about getting names printed on ballots – too much delay and you could have a situation where the names on the ballots for the candidates don’t match the actual slate.</p>