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As the heat and humidity of summer set in, opinion writers should avoid heavy lifting. So let's turn to the summer game of picking a vice president for John Kerry and George W. Bush. John McCain is the first choice of a lot of Democrats and more than a few Republicans looking for a "dream ticket."
To which McCain keeps saying, Dream on.
No sooner did McCain, the Democrats' favorite Republican, put the kibosh on the idea of him becoming Kerry's vice president than some pundits and worried Republicans began grooming him to be President Bush's runningmate. Even if Vice President Dick Cheney suddenly decided to drop off the Republican ticket - which both Cheney and Bush say isn't going to happen barring a serious health problem - a Bush-McCain ticket would be as politically awkward as a Kerry-McCain ticket.
Kerry and McCain, both Vietnam War heroes, have a strong personal bond, but they have too many policy differences, especially on abortion, for them to run together on a "national unity" ticket. Kerry is a liberal Democrat; McCain is a conservative Republican with an independent streak that drives GOP leaders up the wall. But McCain's general political philosophy is closer to Bush's than to Kerry's. The party's left wing, especially feminist groups, would go berserk if Kerry put an antiabortion Republican on the ticket.
Kerry recently met with the Arizona senator to gauge his interest in carrying the Democrats' vice presidential banner. McCain made it clear he wasn't interested and Kerry moved on to consider less exciting but solid choices, including two of his vanquished primary opponents, Richard Gephardt and John Edwards. Now, whomever Kerry chooses as his No. 2 will be seen as his second choice.
Meanwhile, political matchmakers have begun imagining a GOP "dream ticket" - Bush-McCain. One problem is McCain and Bush don't particularly like each other personally. McCain has not forgotten Bush's dirty campaign against him in the 2000 presidential primary contest. They have some sharp political differences as well. McCain has emerged as perhaps the president's most effective critic on Capitol Hill, slamming the president's excessive tax cuts, huge budget deficts and mismanagement of the war in Iraq.
McCain's appeal among Democrats, moderate Republicans and independents could make a difference for any ticket he ran on, especially since many undecided voters don't feel strongly about Bush or Kerry at this point. Recent polls suggest that a Kerry-McCain ticket would sweep the November election. McCain also could draw independent voters to the Republican ticket, something the president needs to do since these swing voters could decide the election. If anything, Cheney, a dour face these days, is more unpopular with voters than Bush, but dropping him from the ticket would provoke an outcry - maybe even a revolt - from the president's conservative base.
It's not hard to see why McCain would give a lift to either ticket. He has become something of a political icon since his straight-talking bid for the GOP presidential nomination four years ago. The press fell hard for him, and so did many voters who like his willingness to buck his own party on principle and work with Senate Democrats when he believes it is in the national interest. Republican leaders in Congress wish he would just go away, but the public would like to clone him.
McCain realizes something the dreamy matchmakers don't - that he would have to stop being John McCain if he became either party's vice-presidential candidate. Who wants to see John McCain become just another politician? On either ticket he would have to bend his principles to suit the political needs of the presidential candidate and follow a script written for him by the campaign's political handlers and pollsters. He would spend much of the campaign trying to explain his differences with Kerry on abortion or his difference with Bush on tax cuts. That's not the way John McCain works, which is why he is so popular with Americans who are tired of the partisan rancor and lack of honest political debate in Washington.
The McCain-for-veep speculation was fun while it lasted, even if it was only a delusion. The senator says he plans to support Bush for re-election, but it's not clear how actively he will campaign for the president. If the Bush campaign is smart, it will put aside its petty resentments - personal and political - and make sure McCain's broad political appeal is not wasted this fall. If I were running the campaign, I'd give McCain his own jet and book this former Vietnam prisoner of war with campaign stops from sea to shining sea.
- Philip Gailey's e-mail address is Gailey@sptimes.com.