Convention Perspective: GOP prospects vie for top-dog role

By Peter S. Canellos, Boston Globe Washington Bureau Chief

DENVER -- Today is Tim Pawlenty's turn to rain on the Democratic parade.

The Minnesota governor is slated to visit Colorado to offer a GOP counterpoint to Barack Obama's big day. Pawlenty's arrival follows Mitt Romney's surprise appearance at the Democratic convention on Tuesday to take his own best shots at the opposition ("Barack Obama got a special deal from a convicted felon") and promote John McCain ("his own man. . .not a carbon copy of any other Republican, including President Bush.")

Romney and Pawlenty have been in full campaign mode these last two weeks in what appears to be a Republican National Committee-sponsored grump-off to determine who will be the stronger running mate for McCain -- or the stronger attacker of Obama, as the job may require.

At 47, Pawlenty is younger and more folksy than Romney, but less proven on the campaign trail. The youthful Minnesotan is notable among conservatives for having a jockish charm that crosses party lines. But when speaking on behalf of McCain, he has a less-lethal tongue than Romney.

Earlier this week, Pawlenty took his best shot at Democratic vice-presidential nominee Joe Biden, who is often ridiculed for being long-winded. "They're going to have to extend the length of the [vice presidential] debate to two or three hours because I don't think he's going to be able to fit his part of the debate in in just one hour," guffawed Pawlenty.

Romney, on Tuesday, was leaner and meaner: "Joe Biden is an impenetrable thicket of words," he told CNN.

The two proto-attack dogs share the top of the rumored short list to be McCain's veep, but could still get their comeuppance: McCain, who values personal relationships, has a longer and closer friendship with former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge, who has maintained a more limited campaign schedule than Romney or Pawlenty.

But Ridge is also a supporter of abortion rights, which could help McCain with some moderates but could also set off a revolt at next week's Republican convention. Since McCain is enjoying the benefits of the latent tensions between Democratic supporters of Hillary Clinton and Obama, he probably isn't interested in opening any new fissures in the GOP.

And Ridge, who has a ruddy, all-American authenticity, is less of an attacker than Romney or Pawlenty, while all the party's recent vice-presidential nominees have been sharp with the stiletto.

Starting with Richard Nixon in 1952, who was chosen as a partisan complement to the genial Dwight Eisenhower, Republicans have given the vice-presidential candidate a clearly defined role in making the case against the opposition.

William Miller in 1964, Spiro Agnew in 1968 and 1972, Bob Dole in 1976, George H. W. Bush in 1980 and 1984, and Dan Quayle in 1988 and 1992 all played the role with enough zeal that the RNC could run a greatest-hits reel at next week's convention. It would have to include Agnew's attack on the press ("nattering nabobs of negativism"), Dole's on Jimmy Carter's Playboy interview ("We'll concede the bunny vote"), and Bush on his debate with Geraldine Ferraro ("kicked a little ass last night").

Dick Cheney, the front man for George W. Bush in past dust-ups with Democrats, is still a hit with Republican audiences.

Democrats, by contrast, don't have a clearly defined role for the vice presidential nominee. Each choice has been situational, designed to compensate for some perceived vulnerability in the presidential nominee, from geography (Lloyd Bentsen in 1988) to religious values (Joe Lieberman in 2000) to foreign-policy experience in the choice of Biden this year.

Often, the Democrats come to feel the lack of a fighter of their own: When John Kerry came under attack from Swift Boat veterans, vice-presidential nominee John Edwards didn't pick up the cudgel -- either against the veterans or against Bush.

This year, the Republicans are hopeful about making Obama's fitness the prime issue in the campaign, a task that requires a willingness to attack (as Romney has demonstrated) while not appearing too mean (as Pawlenty would point out.)

Tomorrow, McCain will announce his choice, and either Romney or Pawlenty, or both, will be disappointed. But no one can say they haven't given it their best shot.