Quayle to Return in ‘92, Sununu Says

The Persian Gulf War may have turned military generals into domestic heroes and redrawn the political map for 1992, but one thing is “lock solid”--Vice President Dan Quayle’s place on the GOP ticket, White House Chief of Staff John H. Sununu said Saturday.

In a televised interview, Sununu dashed speculation that President Bush might drop Quayle as his running mate next year and replace him with Gen. Colin L. Powell, who as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has presided over Operation Desert Storm in the Gulf.

Powell “has indicated to a number of us that he’d like to be considered for another stint as chairman of the joint chiefs,” Sununu said in response to a question on CNN’s “Evans & Novak” program.

“A Bush-Quayle ticket is a lock solid ticket in 1992,” the former New Hampshire governor added. “The President has made it clear on other occasions that it is a solid ticket.”

Sununu said formal discussion of naming Powell to another two-year term as chairman of the joint chiefs has not taken place. “But I can’t imagine that that would not happen,” he said.

Powell, 53, became chairman in October, 1989. The term runs for two years with two renewal options, with a total limit of six years in office.

Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Dick Cheney, in a separate interview, found himself addressing an even more remote political horizon--the possibility of a Cheney-Powell or Powell-Cheney ticket for the presidency in 1996.

“Well, Colin and I’ll sit down and have that debate in ’95. We haven’t worried about it yet,” Cheney replied to a question posed on CNN’s “Newsmaker Saturday.”

“We’re busy--we’re busy doing the jobs the President’s asked us to do,” Cheney added, prompting the interviewer to later conclude that Cheney did not “rule out” the speculation.

“It’s always flattering to be thought of in those terms,” Cheney said, “but both of us have our hands full right now.”