Why isn't Martian Man on Obama's short list?
Days Running Short for Candidates’ to Announce Running Matesby FOXNews.com
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Anticipation is building over the presumptive presidential nominees’ vice presidential choices, and even the campaigns realize they are under the gun to make the big announcement.
Democrat Barack Obama was attending a town hall meeting in Reno, Nev., on Sunday, but his spokeswoman suggested media coverage of the event may be motivated by an eye to surprise news.
“I see you’re here for the Kucinich vice presidential announcement,” Obama spokeswoman Jen Psaki joked with FOX News. Two-time presidential candidate and Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich is not on the short list of possible vice presidential contenders.
As the campaign teams duck and kid, Obama and John McCain’s surrogates were out in force on the Sunday morning news shows trying to avoid spilling any beans. In fact, most smiled politely and quizzically when asked about being named the No. 2 for the White House.
“Does anybody have an announcement here?” CBS’ “Face the Nation” host Bob Schieffer asked Indiana Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh and Minnesota Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty.
Both men are among those most frequently listed as potential running mates.
“I think the senator does,” Pawlenty joked, turning to Bayh.
“Well, we may make news this morning, Bob, but it is not going to be that. So I hate to disappoint you, but nothing to report today,” Bayh said.
“Same answer here,” Pawlenty added.
Along with Pawlenty, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge and Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, an independent Democrat, are all on the short list as McCain’s running mate, said Weekly Standard Publisher Bill Kristol.
Kristol, a FOX News contributor, said the short list for Democrats includes Bayh, Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed and Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine.
In both cases, Kristol said, the choice should reflect the central theme of the campaigns.
“If people are voting on experience, they’re not voting for Obama. He should be change. He should be bringing new people to Washington. I think Governor Kaine is the strongest pick, and I think he will be the pick,” Kristol said.
Kaine appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” and rejected an earlier suggestion by former White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove that his selection would be purely political. He told reporters that he wouldn’t take criticism from someone who was part of a team that failed in its response to Hurricane Katrina and started a war it could not execute.
But Kaine may present some headaches on a Democratic ticket, as he is a Catholic whose views on abortion don’t mesh completely with the party. Asked about abortion on Sunday, Kaine responded that human rights begin “at conception or just thereafter,” however, he said decisions by women seeking abortions and doctors who perform them should not be criminalized.
The abortion issue could also present a problem for Ridge, who supports abortion rights in a party whose platform is specifically anti-abortion.
On Sunday, Ridge sidestepped questions about the difficulty of his becoming McCain’s running mate if he supports abortion rights, saying it’s not the vice president’s job to contradict publicly the president’s positions.
“The last time I checked, the vice president is not an independent voice. He echoes the position of the president of the United States. I think that’s the responsibility of the vice president. If you’re unwilling or unable to do that, then I think you should defer to someone else,” he said.
Romney too could face something of a backlash within the party as former rival Mike Huckabee said Romney’s shifting positions on issues that matter to value voters make him a questionable choice.
Saying he didn’t have any clues as to McCain’s choice, Romney declined to return volley on Sunday.
“I’m certainly not going to be arguing with anybody about their perspective on that regard. Nor am I going to give advice to John McCain as to who he ought to choose,” Romney told ABC’s “This Week.”
“But let’s go back to this issue about what’s needed right now in the country. Is it judgment or experience? And I frankly think that judgment comes from experience. I think people who are wise and have great judgment are people who have experienced the world and understand how the world works,” he said.
As for Lieberman, Biden and Reed, they were not out on the morning news circuit on Sunday. Biden, the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee chairman, was in the Caucasus nation of Georgia over the weekend, but was scheduled to return Monday, in plenty of time for a vice presidential announcement before next week’s Democratic convention.
McCain’s choice is unlikely to be announced in the build-up or during the Democratic convention that takes place Aug. 25-28. But with the Republican convention following closely behind on Sept. 1-4, McCain has a few days to steal Obama’s thunder by making his announcement just following the Democratic convention.
http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/08/17/days-running-short-for-candidates-to-announce-running-mates/
