John McCain’s advisers did not prepare to spend to spent the majority of their time answering questions today about their candidate’s vice presidential search.
Advisers said that McCain’s remarks this morning to radio host Don Imus were not intended to signal a new phase in the process, and yet, given that McCain used the l-word – “list” for the first time, aides had no choice.
They came up with two talking points. “This process is at the very beginning,” senior adviser Steve Schmidt said.
The small circle of advisers with whom McCain plans to consult – Schmidt, Charlie Black, Mark Salter, Rick Davis, Sen. Lindsey Graham and a few others – will not discuss the search and will not provide guidance to the media about its progress.
Why? Here’s talking point two: the more public the search is, the more the privacy of potential
nominees are invaded, and more feelings are bruised among those who did not make the cut.
What appears to be happening internally is that McCain has begun to talk about the qualities he wants in a vice president with his advisers. There is no written, cross-out-the-losers-list, not now, anyway, even though McCain told Imus that he had about 20 names in mind.
Schmidt said that McCain might – or might not – appoint a czar to oversee the search.
“We have studied the process and understand what has worked right and what has not worked right,” Schmidt said. “No leaks,” he said, is one of the rules.
The press seems to have settled on its own shortlist. Some of the names are plausible, like Govs. Tim Pawlenty and John Huntsman Jr. Both have been fierce campaigners for McCain, and advisers to the two men have acknowledged that their surrogacy has amounted to an audition for the job.
Others represent the wishes of conservatives: Ohio Rep. Rob Portman, SEC chairman and former congressman Chris Cox; others are being pushed by their own informal PR teams, like Sec/State Condoleezza Rice, Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee.
And for those who like to traffic in the Colin Powell speculation, remember two things: one – he disagrees with Sen. McCain about the way forward in Iraq. And two, he is 70 years old.
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Rob Portman is OMB director now.
Posted by Richard Skinner | April 2, 2008 5:10 PM