The name of Gov. Charlie Crist surfaces regularly in the punditry over who John McCain will choose as a running mate, and it's noteworthy who the pundits think Crist's main competitors are.

In a Washington Whispers column in U.S. News & World Report, Newt Gingrich says McCain will choose Crist or Mike Huckabee. "My hunch is that he will probably choose Charlie Crist," Gingrich said.

The Los Angeles Times lists Crist Saturday in a group of eight possible choices, calling him "popular in a crucial swing state (and) a rookie on the national scene." Some others on that list: Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford and Mitt Romney.

Alfred Regnery of the American Spectator, writing an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, said McCain's selection of Crist "would send many conservatives over the edge."

On MSNBC, David Keating from the Club for Growth dissed Crist as "a really bad idea. He's come up with an awful solution for the insurance problems down there and he has really demagogued a lot of issues. So a lot of people would not be too happy to see Charlie Crist as a pick."