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Vanguard of the Revolution
http://www.theVanguard.org
VEEPSTAKES; OR, HOW TO BLOW AN ELECTION IF YOU=B9RE NOT REALLY CAREFUL
by
Rod D. Martin, 23 June 2000
George W. Bush, presumptive heir to the Presidential throne, is on a
tightrope. And the Vice Presidential nomination, done correctly, is the
only thing that can get him off.
With a ten point lead in several polls, a nomination process which was
almost a coronation, and a winning Texas smile (no matter how many left-win=
g
journalists try to plant the word "smirk" in people=B9s minds), Bush looks
almost invulnerable. He would look absolutely invulnerable if it weren=B9t
for memories of his daddy. And having pronounced the inviolability of his
party=B9s abortion plank in this year=B9s platform, the chance of a mass
Christian Right exodus to Pat Buchanan seems almost nil.
Almost.
And there=B9s the rub. It can only be almost. The Christian Right, without
which Bush cannot muster enough votes to win =AD particularly in a year when
they have a very visible (and theoretically viable) someplace else to go =AD
still doesn=B9t completely trust George Bush. Right or wrong, fair or not,
they may never completely trust George Bush. And if he picks the wrong VP=
,
they=B9ll kill him.=20
The platform issue presumably resolved, it really comes down to that. The
VP choice will show how honest Bush was when he courted Christians against
McCain. It will show how likely he is to appoint judges who will overturn
Roe v. Wade. And, to those a bit more farsighted, it will show where Bush
wants the party to end up eight years from now, when his VP choice is the
new presumptive heir.
Fortunately for Bush, the Vice Presidential choice is almost purely
political, and everyone knows and accepts that. What=B9s more, this year,
only the Christian Right cares. The old geographical calculus has been
rendered almost moot by television and population growth (see Clinton-Gore
=B992); pro-choice Republicans will not bolt the party over a pro-life VP whe=
n
they haven=B9t bolted over Bush (or even Reagan); and with the possible
exception of gun-owners, no one else is looking for a symbol. As for
independents, Bush will win or lose them on his own.
To shore up his own flanks and free himself to focus on Gore, Bush needs no=
t
merely a pro-life VP (essential to avoid the fate his daddy faced at the
hands of Ross Perot), but one the Right can really trust. A couple
suggestions come to mind.
The most obvious person for this role is Alan Keyes. Without a doubt, Keye=
s
would end any doubt as to where Bush stood on life issues, and the elevatio=
n
of the former UN Ambassador from his present wilderness status ("we sure
like you, but we=B9re not voting for you =8Ccause you can=B9t win") to that of a
real player would excite many on the Right who simply haven=B9t voted in the
past few cycles. =20
Moreover, Keyes is black (the Democrats have refused to nominate a black)
and speaks fluent Spanish (making him an incredible asset in California,
Florida and Texas). Keyes=B9 very existence exudes inclusion, yet inclusion
from a non-leftist, politically-incorrect perspective. And picking Keyes
would show Bush=B9s willingness to make bold choices just as surely as it
would eliminate the threat of pro-life desertion to Buchanan.
Still, many Bush loyalists fear Keyes would prove a loose cannon. For them=
,
there is a perfect compromise.
His name is Governor Mike Huckabee, Chairman of the Southern Governor=B9s
Association.
Huckabee, the Arkansas Governor and a former state president of Arkansas=B9
Southern Baptists, has every bit of devotion to the life issue (and the gun
issue, and so on) that Keyes has, with an equally powerful but far less
fiery oratory. A team player, Huckabee knows how to lead and how to follow
equally well. And unlike many on Bush=B9s alleged short list, Huckabee,
devoted husband and father of three, has no skeletons: after a decade of
trying to "get" him, even the left-wing Arkansas Times has given grudging
support of late because, in the words of Bush=B9s slogan, he is truly "a
reformer with results".
Huckabee would completely shore up Bush=B9s Right flank, without overshadowin=
g
the top of the ticket and without the possibility of scandal. He would be =
a
fresh, yet experienced face that would interest a press (and he=B9s masterful
with the press) in a way that the big-name, high-visibility Jack Kemp could
not in 1996. And if something should happen to Bush, Huckabee is probably
the most suited for the Presidency of any of the VP candidates.
But the symbolism of Bush-Huckabee would bring something to the ticket that
nothing else could match. Huckabee came to power because of the federal
Whitewater convictions of his predecessor, and on his watch, Arkansas has
seen a dramatic clean-up of Clinton-era corruption as well as its first-eve=
r
(in 162 years!) tax cut. A Bush-Huckabee ticket would be a mighty rushing
wind, sweeping its Clinton-Gore opposite out of Washington and all its
scandals and boondoggles with it.
But whether Bush picks Keyes or Huckabee or whomever, what is certain is
that Bush must pick carefully. Many choices might help him, but one false
move =AD be it a Christie Whitman or a Tom Ridge =AD and Bush is dead. He=B9ll
have no one to blame but himself.
Copyright: Rod D. Martin, 23 June 2000.
-- Rod D. Martin is National Chairman of The Vanguard, an organization
dedicated to the promotion of conservative causes. He is a Fellow of the
Kuyper Institute for Political Studies, an elder of Covenant Baptist
Church, and an attorney in Little Rock, Arkansas.
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