Dreaming veepstakes scenarios

To unify Democrats, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois - should he secure the party’s nomination - will have to offer U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York the vice presidency. And that combination, though improbable, would be the party’s dream team. On the Republican side, the strongest running mate for U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona would be someone who lacks eligibility for the American presidency: California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. But there is no shortage of Republican dream-team alternatives.

So said Stephen Wayne, a Georgetown University expert on the American presidency, who has written 11 books, including "The Road to the White House."

As we talked last week about dream-team possibilities for the U.S. presidential campaign, I could not help thinking back to May of last year, when I had a similar discussion with other observers of American politics. I should add that I have not yet made a choice in this campaign and shun any party affiliation. At any rate, in early 2007, when I suggested Obama as part of a Democratic dream team and McCain as the Republican dream-team leader, many considered the notions preposterous. How times have changed.

Clinton, once the Democratic frontrunner, now struggles to survive. Wayne believes that Obama does not wish to offer her the No. 2 slot, nor does she care to take it - and almost surely would not. At the point that she rejected the offer, Obama would be free to look elsewhere. My preference would be for someone to make up for Obama’s absence of experience in foreign affairs. According to Wayne, some of the possibilities include U.S. Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut and former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn of Georgia. But Obama also could find an effective running mate in a woman with executive experience, Wayne said, such as Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius or Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano. Time magazine recognized both in its 2005 group of America’s five best governors.

What about McCain? He certainly has no problem in the foreign-affairs area. But he does shoulder two key vulnerabilities that need to be addressed, Wayne said. First, economics is not McCain’s strong suit, and that is his most important problem. The other vulnerability is the age factor; should he get sick or repeat himself too much in debates, questions will arise. Thus, Wayne stressed the importance of having someone younger and capable of taking over in the No. 2 position.

He considered Rob Portman, who formerly directed of the Office of Management and Budget, served as a U.S. Trade Representative and was a member of the U.S. Congress, but quickly noted that there could be concerns because of Portman’s connections to the Bush administration. Another possibility, Wayne said, would be a governor with the executive experience McCain lacks, such as new Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal or Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

We then turned to what struck me as truly dream-team combinations. If Obama-Clinton tops the Democrats’ list of possibilities, what is the equivalent on the Republican side, given that McCain-Schwarzenegger is not an option? The one that immediately came to my mind was McCain with former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, a potential team that Wayne called powerful. He noted, though, that Powell does not hunger for such a role, and that family considerations probably would prevent it.

Wayne concluded that one of the best teammates for McCain would be someone from the business world, such as Carly Fiorina, who formerly was president and chief executive officer of the Hewlett-Packard Co. I am interested in hearing what readers have to say on this subject. What are your dream teams for the Democrats and the Republicans? Send your responses to johncbersia@msn.com, and I will summarize the results in a future column.

John C. Bersia, who won a Pulitzer Prize in editorial writing for the Orlando Sentinel in 2000, is the special assistant to the president for global perspectives at the University of Central Florida. Readers may send him e-mail at johncbersia@msn.com.

(c) 2008, Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.