United States Senator Sam Brownback, a presidential candidate until last November, today has a 48% approval and 41% disapproval rate in his home state of Kansas, according to SurveyUSA monthly approval tracking conducted by SurveyUSA. Brownback’s Plus 7 Net Job Approval is significantly lower than that of Kansas’ junior senator, Pat Roberts, who today is at Plus 16, but Brownback’s conservative credentials and relatively young age (51) could make him an attractive choice of running mate for John McCain, who he is supporting; speculation on that topic has been appearing recently.

Other names circulated as possible McCain running mate choices recently, and polled on by SurveyUSA, include the Republican Governor of Minnesota, Tim Pawlenty, blogged about on this site yesterday; the Republican Governor of South Carolina, Mark Sanford, also blogged about here yesterday; and the two Republican United State Senators from South Carolina, Lindsey Graham and Jim DeMint, who we’ll blog about later this afternoon.

On the Democratic side, we blogged yesterday about the Democratic Governor of of Kansas, Kathleen Sebelius, and did not blog about, but will mention here, the Democratic Governor of New Mexico (and former presidential candidate Bill Richardson, who today has a 60% approval rating and 37% disapproval rating in New Mexico, for a Net Job Approval of Plus 23. Also mentioned on the Democratic side: Indiana Senator Evan Bayh, who we’ll blog about this afternoon, and Ohio Governor Ted Strickland, elected in 2006. Strickland today has a 51% approval rating and a 40% disapproval rating, for a Net Job Approval of Plus 11, his lowest since taking office last January. Strickland last month was at Plus 28, his highest Net Job Approval since he took office.