Question About 2000 VP Choices

[Lincoln Republican]

As everyone knows, 2000 was an extremely hard fought, close, and controversial election.

As to VP choices

Is there anyone else Bush could have picked besides Cheney who would have helped to put Bush over the top to a close yet clear win?  Reasons?

Is there anyone else Gore could have picked besides Lieberman who would have helped to put Gore over the top to a close yet clear win?  Reasons?

[TomC]

Gore should have picked Diane Feinstein. Or maybe Bob Graham. Bush should've picked Powell.

[J. J.]

For the GOP, Ridge, Engler, and Thompson were politically better choices.  They probably would have delivered their respective states.

Bob Graham probably would have delivered Florida. Bayh would have delivered Indiana.  Lieberman was a good, if not a perfect, choice.  He brought some distance from the Lewinsky scandal and he appealed to Jewish voters.  Lot of Jewish voters in Florida; it almost worked.

[Nym90]

Gore should have picked Graham, as he most certainly would have gained at least 0.01 percent of the vote in Florida and thus won the White House; I can't see any state that Graham would have cost Gore. Lieberman was a great guy but didn't really add anything to the ticket in terms of electability.

As for Bush, Tom Ridge would have been the most logical choice, as he could have brought Pennsylvania into Bush's column. Cheney, like Lieberman, didn't really add anything to the ticket other than "gravitas", but I think this was overrated as a factor for Bush.

[Jacobtm]

Gore could've done better by picking any non Jewish Democrat.

There are still WAY too many people out there who think Jews have horns. It's not like the Jewish vote in Florida would've gone for Bush if Gore hadn't picked Lieberman. But Gore could've picked up a few more anti-semetic votes in Flordia (of which there are plenty) and won the election.

[kashifsakhan]

i heard Bush was very close to picking Tom Ridge before he went for Cheney

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Gore should have picked Diane Feinstein. Or maybe Bob Graham. Bush should've picked Powell.

But a choice of Powell could have cost him the 2004 election, since he's such a hawk and most people thought he'd be replaced.

[Colin]

i heard Bush was very close to picking Tom Ridge before he went for Cheney

Well however told him not to was a complete idiot. Having a moderate popular swing state governor like Ridge as the other half of the ticket would have probably swung PA to Bush and would have helped him much more than having another Texan, for all intents and purposes, with little political experience in the past 8 years on the ticket.

[NewFederalist]

i heard Bush was very close to picking Tom Ridge before he went for Cheney

Well whoever told him not to was a complete idiot.

I believe Dick Cheney was in charge of Gov. Bush's VP search committee!

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

Cheney was the head of Bush's "find me a buddy" committee.

On the Dems side I have to agree with JacobTm - I think Lieberman was a double-edged sword - It may have brought out voters in FL (how many MORE did he bring is the question) but frankly I think it did cost Gore dearly in TN, AR and WV - If he had only won TN....

Bush needed gravitas and experience - Cheney was perfect for him.

[DownWithTheLeft]

Nothing is a sure thing, Edwards couldn't deliever Kerry NC.

[Adlai Stevenson]

The Bush camp offered the VP slot to Powell and he declined it.  Ridge would have been an excellent choice.  However, perhaps to balance out the ticket like Bill Clinton did in 2000 Bush could have picked a Senator.  Rick Santorum could have been a strong choice or at least popular with some people on the forum.

I think in retrospect Lieberman was a good choice for Gore.  It is an unfortunate (or maybe inconvenient!) truth that a lot of anti-Semitism still exists in the world, however, Lieberman certainly increased Jewish turnout in Florida and ensured the Democratic ticket was appealing to moderates.  However, I think it was a mistake for Gore to distance himself from Clinton.  He should have picked a Southern Governor to bring in his back yard and to show he was still accessible to moderates and conservative Democrats.  Wasn't Zell Miller actually a possible VP choice for him in 2000?  That would have been interesting.  Miller was popular enough to probably help him carry Georgia, Florida, Arkansas and Tennessee and at a stretch Louisiana.

[DownWithTheLeft]

Zell Miller running w/Gore?  I don't think so, he is perfect for the GOP because he stills calls himself a Dem but I think he is.  Like Powell turned it down, I think Zell would have too.

[J. J.]

I regard Lieberman as possibly the best political choice for VP for a Democrat since 1960.  There were a number better VP choices, politically for Bush in 2000 and 2004; Ridge was one of them, so was Thompson. 

[Nym90]

Miller would've had to abandon his run for (re)election to the Senate from Georgia if he had been chosen.

[NewFederalist]

Miller would've had to abandon his run for (re)election to the Senate from Georgia if he had been chosen.

Why? Lieberman didn't and neither did LBJ.

[© tweed]

Miller would've had to abandon his run for (re)election to the Senate from Georgia if he had been chosen.

Why? Lieberman didn't and neither did LBJ.

Different states have different laws on that issue.  I don't know the Georgia law, but due to the nature of Nym's post I assume he does.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Zell Miller running w/Gore?  I don't think so, he is perfect for the GOP because he stills calls himself a Dem but I think he is.  Like Powell turned it down, I think Zell would have too.

Miller has moved to the right since 2000.

[Rob]

I'm in the Graham camp.

[J. J.]

Zell Miller running w/Gore?  I don't think so, he is perfect for the GOP because he stills calls himself a Dem but I think he is.  Like Powell turned it down, I think Zell would have too.

Miller has moved to the right since 2000.

Miller moved to the right since 1827.

[Jake]

Tom Ridge would've delivered Pennsylvania for Bush. Thompson in Wisconsin would've done the same.

Gore would've been better off selecting Bob Graham of Florida.

[Mr. Morden]

One wonders how American foreign policy over the last 5 years would have played out had Bush picked Ridge instead of Cheney for veep.  The foreign policy Bush ran on in 2000 was fairly isolationist.  But then, with the encouragement of Cheney, Bush picked folks like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz to fill critical posts in the administration.  Then after September 11th, Bush went firmly into the "neocon" camp.  Without Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Wolfowitz, things might have played out differently.

If Cheney hadn't been VP, would there have even been an Iraq War?

[Jake]

Bush was already entangled with the Cheneys and Wolfowitzes from his father. If Cheney isn't VP, expect him to return in some capacity, probably as Secretary of Defense.

[J. J.]

Bush was already entangled with the Cheneys and Wolfowitzes from his father. If Cheney isn't VP, expect him to return in some capacity, probably as Secretary of Defense.

Chief of staff.

[Mr. Morden]

Bush was already entangled with the Cheneys and Wolfowitzes from his father. If Cheney isn't VP, expect him to return in some capacity, probably as Secretary of Defense.

Bush was also "entangled" with folks like Colin Powell and George Shultz.  In the summer of 2000, I don't think it was already a foregone conclusion that Bush's foreign policy team would be stacked with neocons like Wolfowitz.  Cheney's selection as VP certainly pushed things more in that direction, and Cheney himself being in such a pivotal role in the administration increased the chances that Bush would take us to war in Iraq.  I definitely think it's a possibility that if the particular mix of people in Bush's inner circle had been a bit different, the Iraq War would never have happened.

Oh, and Ridge's name was also floated for Secretary of Defense during the Clinton/Bush transition period.  Imagine if Bush had picked John Danforth for VP (he was one of the big names floated in the final days), and Ridge as Secretary of Defense.  Bush's foreign policy might have turned out very differently.