Actually, I think the article is a good one.
Most voters are not going to be political junkies like the people in this forum. McCain comes with name recognition. People know him. He's a former POW, a little short-tempered, and known for his ability to work across the aisle. I think his "original maverick" ads are really very good. Though he is basically a career politician and a Washington insider (for the most part) he does have the reputation of being a "maverick." The ads give him the opportunity to win over independent and Democrat voters with the only risk being the isolation of Republican core voters. Right now, that seems to be a risk worth taking.
Obama is more of the unknown. Yes, most people know of him, but they don't know him. I think you'll see the Democrat's Convention geared towards that (and you already have with Michelle). Joe Biden was a step in this direction. Biden is basically Obama's answer to McCain. I don't think it is so much foreign affairs as the entire notion of an experienced Senator, who knows Washington, who knows the Senate, and also understands security and international issues. People know Biden.
Biden isn't the equivalent of Cheney to Bush, so much as LBJ to Kennedy. Kennedy was going to make all of these changes. He promised a lot to the American people, so to balance the ticket he put in the opposite of change - an old stalwart. (Yes, I know he needed to win Texas. As an aside, it is interesting that LBJ became the president to bring the most radical civil rights reform - "an agent of change" in his own right to borrow an awful cliche from media folks).
What will be interesting is to see how McCain goes with his VP choice. If he feels that he has the GOP core vote locked, then he won't need a Romney or an even more stalwart conservative. Then his choices become a lot more interesting.
