Angling for vice president
NOW COMES the great vice presidential flirtation.
This is a tricky period for those hoping to be chosen as John Kerry's number two.
Here's the problem. Acting interested is seen as distinctly unbecoming.
Now, to the uninitiated, that may seem a little confusing.
After all, according to the unwritten rules of American politics, it is perfectly acceptable for each and every governor or senator to think he'd make an extraordinary president. But vice president? Why, to suggest you might possibly be vice presidential timber is considered the very height of hubris, the apogee of egotism, the peak of pomposity, the ... well, you get the idea.
Senator X says he's confident he's qualified to break the occasional tie in the Senate? To represent the United States when foreign leaders shuffle off this mortal coil? To lead the applause when the president gives his State of the Union speech?
Who, exactly, does he think he is?
So here's one basic rule: Treat the VP search like the senior prom. Even if you're dying to be asked, to be a desirable choice, you can't appear overeager. Which means you have to act indifferent, but not quite aloof.
There are several ways to go about it. One is to pretend the question is as remote as the prospect of a colony on Pluto. Senator Bill Nelson of Florida adopted this stratagem during a recent TV appearance. Asked if he would like to run with Kerry, Nelson insisted the VP decision lay too far in the future even to speculate about.
And one can certainly see what he means. After all, the Democratic convention is in July. If people could think that far ahead, why would convenience stores sell umbrellas?
Another approach is to cast the idea of accepting a spot on the ticket as something too onerous to contemplate were it not for one's deep and enduring dedication to party. That's the line Florida's other senator, Bob Graham, is taking.
Oft passed over for the number two spot in the past, Graham spent long months last year waging a campaign most everyone saw as a way of raising his profile as a possible VP choice.
So what does he have to say about it these days?
“I will do anything within reason -- I will not sacrifice one of my grandchildren -- to help John Kerry get elected,” the senator said.
Another practiced technique is to suddenly find a way to make yourself noticeable -- even as you feign a complete lack of interest in the number two spot. Thus Hillary Rodham Clinton popped into the news last week with a big speech on trade and jobs -- and then went on CNN to hold forth on those issues.
Of course there came this question: Does she want to be vice president?
“No, I'm having a great time being senator, talking to you about an issue that I care deeply about,'' Clinton replied. A historical note: Though often belittled, this may be the first time the vice presidency has actually been deemed less significant than a few minutes spent discussing outsourcing with Lou Dobbs.
John Edwards long denied that his presidential candidacy was really a quest for the number two spot, but in quitting the race last week, the North Carolina senator offered fulsome praise for John Kerry, the same man who, Edwards had previously hinted, was a Washington insider lacking the common touch.
Cagey old pols know the best play can be simply to sit tight, keep quiet, and let friends who are close to the nominee make your case. Now, given that Kerry consultant Bob Shrum has worked for seemingly every other Democrat in the Senate, that may prove a little unsettling for those hoping he'll argue their particular merits.
But certainly with long-time Dick Gephardt operative Steve Elmendorf now ensconced at the Kerry campaign, the Missouri congressman can be sure that the case for his candidacy will be made.
Here's an interesting question as we watch the flirtation commence: What did Kerry himself do when Al Gore was looking for a running mate back in 2000?
Well, the senator staged something of a private audition. He threw a $5,000-a-head fund-raiser for the Democratic Party at his Georgetown home, with Al Gore as the special guest. There, he made a rip-snorting speech tearing into George W. Bush and his newly selected VP choice, Dick Cheney -- that sort of partisan broadside being, after all, the kind of duty a veep nominee draws.
And, with Gore listening, he offered up a wince-inducing joke to the Democratic donors: “A number of you have come up to me tonight and asked me if I have any interest at all in serving as vice president with Al Gore. Actually, none of you have asked me that, and I'm a bit ticked off.'' (Roll the laugh track.)
Gore, himself humor impaired, praised the speech and even noted the quip.
But though Kerry made the VP short list, he eventually lost out to Senator Joseph Lieberman. Why? Well, Lieberman had raised his own profile -- and rendered himself an attractive prospect for a ticket-topper looking to separate himself from the Clinton controversies -- with his speech on the Senate floor scolding the president for his liaison with Monica Lewinsky.
Memo to VP aspirants: That's one move that won't work this year.
Scot Lehigh's e-mail address is lehigh@globe.com. 