As a follow-on to the staff post about McCain's limited female choices for running-mate, Swampland's Joe Klein reports insider gossip that McCain is "frustrated" that he can't go with any of his three personal favorites for the ticket: Tom Ridge, Mel Martinez or Jeb Bush.

Ridge is pro-choice, and Republicans can't have that. Martinez is constitutionally disqualified, having been born in Cuba. And Jebbie, of course, has that unfortunate last name. You can't much deny you're running for "Bush's third term" if you're positioning your running-mate to run for the fourth and fifth Bush terms, or fifth and sixth if you count Poppy.

More and more, it looks like McCain will be driven to pick some boring white guy in a suit who isn't offensive to the Right but won't do much to help the GOP actually win. For many conservatives, it's more about control of the party than of the White House.