CAMPAIGN ’88 : Bush: VP Spot Is Open

Bush said Monday that the Republican National Committee will help him screen potential running mates, and that he had not ruled out any of the candidates who ran against him in the primaries.

Bush said the screening process has not begun yet, and will not until he sees whom Dukakis picks to be the Democratic running mate.

“I just don’t want to start going through long lists or short lists because, believe me, at this juncture, we don’t have them,” Bush said during an appearance before the Agricultural Communicators Congress, a gathering of farm editors, writers and broadcasters.

He tipped his hat, however, to Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole, his most formidable opponent in the primaries. Bush said the Kansas Republican was “deservedly popular in agricultural America.”