McCain, the NEA, and his Education Bench

At my publication, Education Week, we've been trying to get a complete list of John McCain's education advisers, but with little success. Leave it to the fine folks at Fordham to one-up us.Here, you can checkout the complete list they've obtained.

A few of the advisers are crossovers from Mitt Romney's camp, including former education department officials William D. Hansen and Eugene W. Hickok. And we've known that former Arizona state superintendent Lisa Graham Keegan was on the list. Also filling McCain's education bench is Williamson Evers, who has amassed a list of enemies who may have helped briefly stall his Senate confirmation last year to the U.S. Department of Education.

Officially missing from the list is former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who is likely taking on a more informal, though probably no less influential, advising role.

Also of interest in the blogsphere today is a post by union watchdog Mike Antonucci, who talks of how McCain polls unusually well with members of the National Education Association, whose endorsement is still outstanding. Antonucci notes that 41 percent of NEA members have a "positive opinion" of McCain. My question is: Does that translate into votes? There are a lot of folks out there who respect McCain's service to his country, and maybe even some of his stances on policy issues, but who may not vote for him come November.