In the veep guessing game, two dark horses get a moment in the sun
As Barack Obama and John McCain take their sweet time settling on running-mate choices, one result is that the net cast in the inevitable guessing game gets wider and wider.
As The Times' Doyle McManus aptly put it in a recent overview on the plethora of vice-presidential prospects: "Never in modern memory have so many eminent people been mentioned for a job that has been compared -- unfavorably -- to a bucket of warm spit."
In the spirit of such speculation, veteran political journalist Paul West this weekend spotlighted two possibilities -- one for Obama, the other for McCain -- who definitely would be surprise picks.
For the Democrats, West offered up Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island.
In a definite understatement, West writes that Reed "isn't flashy, and he wouldn't upstage the star." But here's the core of the case he makes for the lawmaker with virtually no national profile:
"He's a Catholic with working-class roots (his father was a school janitor) and could enhance the ticket's appeal to those swing voters. He has expertise on issues at the center of the campaign debate: economics and the housing crisis.
"More important, he would offset Obama's lack of national security experience. Reed, 58, has a reputation as a serious thinker and is a respected voice on defense matters. He's a West Point graduate and Army Ranger with views that are right in line with Obama's. He voted against the 2002 Iraq war resolution and became an early critic of the way the war was fought while working to increase the size of the Army."
For the Republicans, West goes one better in the obscurity department -- dropping the little-known name of Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. He notes:
"On a personal level, Huntsman and McCain both have adopted children from Asia. (Huntsman's are from China and India; McCain's is from Bangladesh.) Their moderate-conservative political views are in sync, and Huntsman has gone out of his way to praise McCain's stance on immigration reform."
West's complete piece, in which he also says that Bill Clinton's 1992 selection of Al Gore "is widely regarded by strategists in both parties as the best vice-presidential pick in at least 20 years," can be read on The Swamp blog.
--Don Frederick
Andrew Malcolm's immigrant parents repeatedly stressed the importance of active participation in a democracy. Early lessons included learning the alphabetical list of states by watching televised roll calls of national political conventions. That childhood exposure led to a lifelong fascination with politics, including 40-plus years of covering them and a brief stint practicing them as press secretary to Laura Bush in 1999-2000. A veteran foreign and national correspondent, Malcolm served on the Times Editorial Board and was a Pulitzer finalist in 2004. He is the author of 10 nonfiction books and father of four.
Johanna Neuman is a veteran Washington correspondent for both The Los Angeles Times and USA Today, having covered presidents and politics as far back as Ronald Reagan. A former president of the White House Correspondents Assn., she authored a book on media and foreign policy, “Lights, Camera, Wars.” Most recently she was co-author of the 
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Barack may choose a catholic but he/she will be a CINOP, a Catholic in name only politician. Real Catholics, those whose religion is not a one-hour on Sunday-type of religion, will see through this. They will not vote for Obama no matter who he chooses, because he is not pro-life, the most important issue, the one issue that will drive real Catholics to vote for someone other than Obama. Rome has emphasized that this issue trumps all others. What good is it to vote for universal health care, free education, etc. etc. if children in the womb continue to be killed at the rate of 4200 per day in the USA? This Genocide against the unborn, particularly the black unborn targeted by Planned Parenthood and others of their ilk, will not continue forever. The Lord of LIfe will demand an accountability from everyone in the USA, but particularly our politicians, the CINOPs.
Posted by: Ann | July 06, 2008 at 09:09 AM
Senator Obama wouldn't choose a real Catholic. If you are talking about people who call themselves Catholic, sadly they are a dime a dozen. I beg you to make the distinction. You can call a cloud an airplane, but it doesn't make it so.
Posted by: Lisa Williams | July 06, 2008 at 10:09 AM
Bush taught us about veeps with Cheney. In any case, they'll need a LOT more going for them than a running mate. Neither one gets us out of the war; neither one knows a thing about economics; neither one has said they would cancel all Bush's executive orders or the Patriot Act; neither one can be believed on life issues; both are corrupt; and they both ran to AIPAC to get their 'blessing'; they both support the NAU; both are willing to NUKE Iran; both are in the pocket of corporations and have no intention of dealing with the issues that affect their American citizens. Either way, Americans lose no matter how pretty the bought and sold media makes them. No wonder record numbers of Americans are planning to vote 3rd party- in some states as high as 70%. The parties both represent SOMEBODY but it SURE ISN'T AMERICANS.
Posted by: Margaret | July 06, 2008 at 05:48 PM
Right-on, Ann. God bless!
Posted by: Eleanor | July 18, 2008 at 09:46 PM