By Colbert I. King
Saturday, February 9, 2008
We still have a ways to go before the Democratic and Republican presidential nominations are officially decided. But it's not too soon to start thinking about the selection of running mates.
'Tis fair to say the vice presidency hasn't gained many fans in its more than 200 years of existence. Dan Coen, in his delightful and informative book "Second String: Trivia, Facts and Lists about the Vice Presidency and Its Vice Presidents" spelled out the reasons succinctly: "It has been held by men whose greatness was diminished by the restrictions of office, by those who were able to rise to greatness despite the office, and by men who the office has turned into curiosities of history."
Yet this could be a breakthrough -- or bust -- year for the vice presidency, now that the contests have boiled down to Republican John McCain and Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. One of them will enter the White House next January.
Each president must have, as the Constitution requires, a second in command to ensure a continuation of leadership and to serve as Senate president.
McCain, Clinton and Obama each have shortcomings that the proper running mate might help overcome.
Take John McCain.
Nothing that he said on Thursday to the Conservative Political Action Conference will convince true believers that he's really one of them. At this point, McCain is headed for the general election with a shaky Republican base. What's more, a lot of voters are going to question the wisdom of casting a ballot for a candidate who would become the oldest president in history to take the oath of office. McCain has to make up for those deficiencies if he expects to win in the fall.
Enter a running mate.
Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, age 51, could fit the bill. He's in tight with the GOP's social conservatives and evangelicals. That might take care of McCain's right flank.
South Carolina's Lindsey Graham could also help McCain where he's hurting with Republicans.
But this year, the Democratic Party will field a ticket that will be integrated by race or sex, or maybe both. There may be something a little off with a McCain-Huckabee or McCain-Graham picture, if you know what I mean.
A ticket of John McCain and Kay Bailey Hutchison, however, would be quite another matter.
The first and only female Texan to serve in the U.S. Senate, Hutchison brings the kind of conservative credentials on taxes, defense and foreign policy that McCain's Republican critics ought to love. Gun lovers adore her -- as much as we District residents resent her attempts to kill our sensible gun-control laws. She votes consistently pro-life and has earned a 0 percent rating from NARAL Pro-Choice America, though she has said Roe v. Wade was correctly decided.
As chairman of the Senate GOP policy committee, Hutchison is the fourth-highest-ranking Republican senator. She's plugged in with the party faithful, good on the stump and as savvy as they come.
This will be one of McCain's toughest calls.
Hillary Clinton has a challenge, too. Who in his or her right mind would want to serve as Clinton's vice president, knowing that her husband, Bill, would be roaming around the White House, dropping in on Cabinet meetings, greeting foreign guests and chatting up the staff?
True, the job itself has no formal responsibilities beyond ensuring succession and acting as Senate president. (Vice President John Adams said the vice presidency is "the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived.") But Al Gore, Walter Mondale and Dick Cheney, as Coen notes in his book, redefined the office and elevated its stature.
Could that happen in a Clinton White House? Can a mule whistle?
Fear is, Billary would regard the vice president the same way that Harry Truman said history recognized that office: "about as useful as a cow's fifth teat."
So who would sign on, if asked?
To make up for derailing Obama, Billary would probably turn to a black centrist substitute such as Harold Ford, chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council and a former Tennessee congressman. He'd probably take it.
And if Obama's the nominee?
He's got some shoring up to do, especially in national security and foreign policy. Just as Lyndon Johnson's Southern strength and Washington savvy helped overcome some of John F. Kennedy's disadvantages, Obama would do well to select a running mate with a little seasoning -- and a little gray hair wouldn't hurt, either.
He's got a large and stellar field to draw from among senior senators, governors and House members. And unlike Clinton, Obama is free to select a vice president who can truly partner with the president on key issues without worrying about second-guessing from an omnipresent spouse who has been there, done that and thinks he knows it all.
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