Clinton Chose Wrong by Ignoring the Northeast

Were it not for the continuing ominous presence of Ross Perot in the race, President George Bush could feel a lot more comfortable about his reelection chances today. Gov. Bill Clinton’s choice of Sen. Albert Gore Jr. as his running-mate on Thursday leaves the Democrats, the party of Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy, vulnerable in the Northeast, the party’s historic and essential base.

Explanations of this choice seem to consist of comparisons of Gore to Vice President Dan Quayle. Quayle should be honored. I don’t recall a time in the last four years when he was taken so seriously. Presumably Gore has mastered the spelling of potato . Having said that, I see little reason why the voters should care which of these men occupies the house on the Naval Observatory grounds.

Someone told me that Tipper Gore, the senator’s wife, would add a lot to the Democratic ticket, since her steadfast opposition to pornography and licentious-ness would nullify Marilyn Tucker Quayle’s outspoken views on these points. I’m willing to concede that Mrs. Gore is Mrs. Quayle’s match in this regard, but I wonder how Mrs. Gore and Hilary Clinton will fare when they get a chance to kick around their respective views of the world. And what can Tipper Gore think of Bill Clinton? Is he the kind of family man role model she would endorse? I think not. More likely, Bush or Quayle would meet her standards.

Operatives supporting Bush and Perot must be gleeful. Though the President is prone to overreaction, I think even he will see this is a choice he can ignore. As far as Perot is concerned, the road is now open to him to pull millions of Democrats in the Northeast away from the Democrats by selecting a vice-presidential candidate popular in the region.

Neither major party has ever gone to the electorate with an entirely Southern national ticket. In former years, such an idea would be dismissed out of hand as the most obvious example of political stupidity. This year, when the two largest states in the region, Texas and Florida, are unlikely to vote Democratic, it would seem even less wise.

This is a three-way race. In fewer than two months, when the conventions are over and Perot has conducted whatever electronic seance he has in mind with his supporters, we will begin to take polls that mean something. As September becomes October, the man who is third in these polls will begin to lose his support, since voters who may even prefer him will not wish to waste their votes.

So, it would behoove a presidential candidate to look for ways to broaden his support in selecting a vice president. Instead, Clinton has limited his; he has improved the chances he will be in third place come fall.

The selection of a vice president should tell you something about the man making

the choice. It should reinforce those elements of his character that give him credibility; it should show he has a keen eye for talent, and it should demonstrate a certain cleverness in accomplishing political goals. For a good President must be credible, have a keen eye and be clever.

Campaigns are usually won by those who make the fewest mistakes. What is interesting this year is that no one seems to know what the correct thing to do is. The President, his performance judged in the polls as inadequate, should be explaining how he will do better in a second term. Yet he clings to the notion that, with the economy in recession and his Administration rudderless in domestic policy, he can convince us that his first term was a success.

Perot, so far, has shown himself capable of tapping the considerable vein of discontent that exists in the country. But he has failed to share with us who would join him in his administration or what he would do. Should Perot pick a Southerner as his running-mate, only Quayle among the six candidates for President and vice president would represent those of us not from the South.

I suppose though, that in an attempt at political courage, Bush could forsake his hotel room in Houston, claim that he had never been a Texan in the first place and pronounce himself a resident of Maine, Connecticut or Massachusetts. Please don’t, Mr. President; I’m only kidding.