But Look Who's Running for VEEP

Who’s running for Vice President? Most people are assuming that the Democratic Presidential candidate will be Clinton, Obama, Edwards or maybe Kucinich.... OK maybe not Kucinich but he is the only one who appears to be a real person, and wouldn’t reality be nice for a change? But the more interesting question is “who’s looking for the second spot and how are they conducting their campaign.” By the way, it’s more fun to run for Veep than for President because you simply don’t have to measure up in the same way.

There are two ways to run for Vice President. The first is to endorse a candidate and become a surrogate or spokesperson. We can assume Ed Rendell the Governor of Pa. is hoping to be selected as Hillary’s running mate. He has been an outspoken supporter. And seems to be the person that they look to for response to any Hillary attacks. The other way is not to endorse (duh) but rather to be available to everyone. I think Wes Clark best fits this description. He has the military credential and he has the gumption to defend his credentials. Unlike John Kerry, Wes won’t let the right attack him for being a hero and reduce him to being a whiny war protestor. There are other people who are also vying for this coveted slot – it’s a nice job without too much responsibility and lots of perks. Vilsak is running, Bayh, may be a contender, and who knows, Corzine is an attractive guy—except that he speeds and has some girlfriend issues—but he’s not married so those will go away.

Of course there is a third way to campaign. That is to run for President and hope that you don’t antagonize whoever becomes the nominee enough that they won’t consider you. So if you take a look at the field you can see the possibilities. Hillary and Biden is nice. Of course, he is really pompous and doesn’t want to hear anyone’s voice but his own. But if you send him all the way to the Old Executive Office building that’s not a problem. It is true that Delaware has virtually no delegates, but the guy is, at the very least, an internationalist. And he’s had a hair transplant so while he loses the balding crowd he gains the respect of other men yearning to cover up.

How about Kucinich and Hillary. He’s not much taller than she so he won’t be a threat in places where tall is a problem. He’s smart and funny and while she’s smart he could make up for her lack of public humor. Or how about Hillary and Edwards. I’m not sure if Edwards has stepped over the cordial line with her—we know Obama has. But there’s always Obama and Edwards. Someone from the South and someone from the Midwest. OK, Edwards didn’t deliver his own state last time, but then the public didn’t know and adore Mrs. Edwards. Let’s look at more possibilities. How about Obama and Richardson. Maybe that’s too much ethnicity for one ticket but Edwards and Richardson or Clinton and Richardson might work. Do you think it’s possible that anyone would consider Kucinich, the real voice of the Democratic party. Probably not. Too bad.

Who am I missing? Dodd and Gravel. Both reasonable people. Dodd, a Senator from Connecticut who, when he announced said that he didn’t think anyone else in the race would do as good a job as he; and Gravel, who helped to end the draft during the Viet Nam war and was a Senator from Alaska. Gravel is probably too liberal for any of the candidates, and he, like Kucinich, talks too much truth. Dodd is a terrific person, well liked and respected and he could certainly run with Clinton, Richardson, Obama, or Kucinich. I think combining him with Edwards or Biden would be a mistake because they have resumés that look much alike and to be perfectly honest, it’s just too white bread. Whew! I have exhausted my thinking. There are simply too many attractive, yet pithy combinations for any ticket. Let’s talk about something else.

How about those Republican’s. Who’s running for VP on that ticket. I think Huckabee is a likely choice for Guiliani or McCain or maybe even Romney. He’s a good ole boy who, even though I don’t agree with anything he says, at least has a sense of humor. And what happened to Fred Thompson. Wasn’t he supposed to have a dramatic impact on the race. We know he won’t be the Vice President because his house in Mclean is nicer than the official Vice Presidential residence, so why would he be that inconvenienced and move. Besides, what would all of his “Law and Order” fans (I being one) do without him. But Newt says he’ll come into the race if he can raise 30 million dollars – if he can’t then I would be surprised. He can do it just from dollar donations from people who believed in “The Contract for America”. But here’s the thing, Guiliani and Newt have each been married three times. They didn’t have nice divorces and that has to have some impact. Guiliani and Romney have changed their minds about every position they ever took—and they were both elected from liberal states because of their liberal positions. McCain is simply too old and inflexible.... and I think he’s not attractive to reasonable Republicans who think the war and this President are way out of step. Brownback, Paul, and Tancredo are terminal jerks. So who else can they turn to? Maybe Hagel is the likely choice.

But what difference does it make. None of the candidates considered serious, Republican or Democrat, have anything courageous or fresh to offer. I think we have come to a point where if they simply said “Blah blah blah blah blah”, it would be far more interesting than what they’re offering. We’re just sayin....Iris