lead in the polls. >> always knew that we had to take a risk, that we had to throw the ball into double coverage over the middle of the field to get ahead in a race where all the headwinds were against us. >> really but the idea was was that john mccain was going to pick joe lieberman. >> i get a call from rick davis who is the campaign manager for john mccain in 2008. he said john would like to put you on the list of people to be vetted to be his vice presidential running man. >> i said, are you kidding me? he said, no, i'm not. it was a bold idea. barack obama was beginning to walk on the mountain tops. you are not going to defeat him . >> in his book, the restless wave, mccain expressed regret for not picking lieberman, having been talked out of it by his staff.