Well, by now the news that Bill Bolling will not be running for Governor has made about three laps around the Virginia blogosphere. Needless to say, I am as excited as many other Republicans at the potential strength of this ticket headed into 2009.

With this excitement, however, comes the predictable speculation about what the 2009 GOP campaign will look like with Bob McDonnell at the top, Bill Bolling running as an incumbent for LG, and a third member who will try to extend the GOP's hold on the AG's office to two full decades.

Already the idea of a McDonnell-Bolling-Cuccinelli ticket has been trumpeted by many conservative bloggers. The Kenney Brothers, Mason Conservative, Bearing Drift, Too Conservative and many others have already weighed in on the prospect. In addition, we are already seeing a theme develop regarding the "geographic balance" of the ticket.

Lots of questions have already been asked about what this means for the GOP's '09 prospects and many more are certain to arise. My question for the evening is simply this: Is geographic balance overrated when it comes to filling out a statewide ticket? If not, why not? If so, what other factors are more important than the elusive "balance" factor.

I look forward to your thoughts.