Possible Bush VP Choices Are Only Game Left

The vice presidential sweepstakes is the only game left in this politics-obsessed town. Favorites rise and fall by the minute. Trial balloons are shot down faster than they can rise. And amid it all, Eugene Delgaudio is positively boggled that no one else is championing the perfect running mate for George Bush.

Ronald Reagan. Yes, that Ronald Reagan.

“This is staring everyone in the face. It’s so obvious!” enthused Delgaudio, an alternate Virginia delegate, who was interviewed before he headed for the Republican convention that opens Monday in New Orleans. “He’ll carry every state!”

‘Reagan for Vice President’

To that end, Delgaudio is distributing 10,000 “Reagan for Vice President” posters and plans a floor demonstration Monday night, after Reagan’s convention address, that he hopes will vault his man onto the ticket. A senior Bush aide, alerted to the plans, chuckled nervously and changed the subject.

From the silly to the serious, the question of who will be George Bush’s George Bush has left Washington swamped in press releases, voter surveys and coded expressions of interest and disinterest.

It is a game of playing the angles, pushing your candidate and knocking down another, and hoping that the one man who will make a decision, George Bush, will somehow come around to your way of thinking.

What he is thinking is a closely guarded secret among Bush campaign officials, who are milking the vice presidential selection process for what it is--the only shot the Republicans have at suspense. Bush campaign manager Lee Atwater said delaying the announcement would help build suspense and increase the television audience, particularly for Thursday night, when Bush makes his acceptance speech.

The vice president is expected to decide on his running mate by Tuesday and keep it from all but his closest aides until Thursday, when the selection will be breathlessly announced.

Still perceived to be atop the pack, according to campaign aides and advisers, are Kansas Sen. Bob Dole, Wyoming Sen. Alan K. Simpson, New York Rep. Jack Kemp, Indiana Sen. Dan Quayle, former Transportation Secretary Elizabeth Hanford Dole and New Mexico Sen. Pete V. Domenici. California Gov. George Deukmejian, despite public efforts to disqualify himself, has not been ruled out, aides said.

No candidate emerged as obvious in recently concluded internal polling, although Sen. Dole proved slightly stronger than the others. No candidate could guarantee a Bush victory in a heavily populated state, a strong consideration in electoral politics.

Some Vitriol May Linger

Dole, the only person Bush has himself named as a candidate, could boost the ticket’s fortunes in the Midwest, where the Bush campaign is wanting--but the vitriolic primary campaign between the two men has proven of great concern in internal deliberations, aides said. Campaign officials shudder at the ammunition Democrats could command simply by regurgitating the personal insults and negative advertisements loosed by Bush and Dole at each other.

“It is a problem that has received a considerable amount of attention” in discussions between Bush and his top aides, one person familiar with the debate said.

And while Bush has frequently said he would insist on compatibility between himself and his running mate, the two men are known to dislike each other. An adviser said, however, that Bush “could cope” with Dole if he was convinced the ticket would benefit.

Conservatives Push Kemp

Kemp, also a primary opponent of Bush, has been the subject and presumed benefactor of an intense campaign by conservatives, whose legendary mistrust of Bush has increased the vice presidential stakes.

Richard A. Viguerie, a conservative activist who has clashed with Bush, forwarded a press release this week trumpeting Kemp’s victory as the vice presidential selection of “a nationwide poll of 15,000 conservatives.” Not for a few paragraphs did it become clear that the results were tabulated only from the first 750 responses.

Sen. Gordon J. Humphrey of New Hampshire, a top Kemp backer, has coalesced conservative organizations into the “Coalition for a Winning Ticket,” which, not surprisingly, is pushing Kemp’s candidacy and loudly threatening a conservative revolt unless Bush picks an appropriate running mate.

Limitations Indicated

The prevailing argument is that Kemp would prove attractive to both conservatives and independents. But others suggest that Kemp’s limitations were indicated when he failed to translate that alleged appeal into votes when he was running for President.

And the rise in interest in Indiana Sen. Quayle among Bush advisers is another indication of a waning of interest in Kemp. Quayle, a second-term senator, comes with good conservative credentials and is seen, at 41, as the sort of fresh face the Republicans might want to present, particularly in contrast to 67-year-old Democratic vice presidential nominee Lloyd Bentsen.

Quayle has let it be known he would accept if asked.

If Bush decides purely on grounds of personal compatibility, aides say, Wyoming Sen. Simpson still stands above the rest of the crowd. He is widely seen as Bush’s favorite, despite tart statements in the past that have angered a myriad of groups, conservatives among them.

Uses Wry Humor

Simpson said he would argue against joining the ticket, and last week on the syndicated “One on One” program, he used typically wry humor to poke fun at his presence on the list. He noted that he was once on federal probation for shooting up mailboxes and that he faced disturbing the peace charges “when I weighed 260 and had hair and thought beer was food.”

Former Transportation Secretary Dole and New Mexico’s Domenici, both said still to be under consideration, present some daunting negatives as well as positives.

The choice of Dole, who is married to the other Dole, would surprise voters--particularly women, which would be the point. While women candidates are generally not thought to guarantee a solid women’s vote, the thinking is that such a choice would so startle voters that they might reconsider their perceptions of Bush himself.

Doesn’t Deliver Home State

But Dole has never won elective office and although she is seen as an asset in her native South, she was not able to command a primary victory in her home state of North Carolina for her husband.

Domenici planned to arrive in New Orleans with a support staff--just in case Bush opts for his brand of Western-tinged, Italian-Catholic, Spanish-speaking Republicanism. But Domenici also has battled the Reagan Administration in his emphasis on cutting budget deficits--and his presence on the ticket could prove uncomfortable to Bush, who has skittishly declined to offer specific deficit reduction plans.

Besides the most-mentioned candidates, others wait in the wings and aides like to suggest that Bush just might opt for a long-shot. Former Senate Majority Leader and White House Chief of Staff Howard H. Baker Jr., Missouri Sen. John C. Danforth and former Tennessee Gov. Lamar Alexander all have ebbed and flowed in speculation in recent days.

Powell Raises Interest

And National Security Adviser Colin L. Powell has raised interest among Republicans impressed with his image and aware that Bush’s selection of a black military officer would be a first. “The country would be turned on its ear,” one adviser said.

Several prospective nominees have taken themselves out of contention, a tactic that is not always a final death throe. Indeed, California’s Deukmejian went so far as to write Bush a letter asking to be taken out of the running. But two senior advisers said that if Bush is convinced that the governor would prove the difference in California, a battleground state where Democrats currently hold the advantage, he would not hesitate to ask.

Another big-state governor, James R. Thompson of Illinois, last week asked that his name be stricken from the list.

No Lack of Suggestions

The absence of an obvious, unanimous candidate has fueled all manner of enthusiastic suggestions.

A former press secretary for Indiana Sen. Richard G. Lugar distributed a letter entitled “12 Reasons Why Dick Lugar Would be a Good VP Pick.” Lugar thought the letter swell.

Backers of former U.N. Ambassador Jeane J. Kirkpatrick mailed videotapes to convention delegates, erected a New Orleans billboard declaring Bush-Kirkpatrick “The Winning Team” and besieged Barbara Bush, the vice president’s wife, with letters touting Kirkpatrick.

Even Marlin Fitzwater, President Reagan’s spokesman and a former Bush aide, announced his availability for the job last week. “I’m willing to travel,” he joked. There was no immediate stampede of support.

$10,000 on Reagan

Perhaps the most hopeful, however, is Delgaudio, whose conservative Public Affairs Political Action Committee has already spent $10,000 to get Ronald Reagan on the ticket. “It’s not the Establishment thing,” he said, in gross understatement. “But Ronald Reagan was never an Establishment phenomenon.”

He already has an idea for a convention floor chant. “Four more years!” he said, without a trace of humor.