April, 2008
Picking the Right Vice President
Frank Colosi, Jeff Ivey
While the Democrats continue to bicker amongst themselves between a liar and a racist, the Republicans are showing the nation which party has their priorities in order. As John McCain continues to win Americans over he will soon be faced with a difficult decision, who to select as his running mate. The choice of Vice President is a difficult one for any candidate; the person McCain chooses will help shape and direct his campaign to be the 44th President. Some will say that the Vice Presidential candidate play little role in the process because Americans are more focused on the main candidate, others believe that it is the Vice President’s job to tie up loose ends and bring in votes from issues the main candidate does not have a strong record. We at the Frontier agree with the latter description and have made our own short list of possible candidates for McCain to pick from.
During our search we looked for candidates who had strong, proven records on the issues conservative voters disagree with McCain on. Issues such as the economy, social issues and immigration policy top the list. So without further ado here is the short list of Vice Presidential candidates; choose wisely John- the fate of America depends on it.
Tim Pawlenty Age 47, Governor (R-MN)
Governor Pawlenty’s political career began as an Eagan City Councilmember, but his political career began to really ascend while serving in the Minnesota House of Representatives for ten years, where he was the Majority Leader for four years and in 2002, he successfully ran for the governorship in Minnesota and was subsequently reelected in 2006.
As Governor, Tim Pawlenty inherited a 4.5 billion dollar deficit and as he promised in his campaign, that deficit was turned into a surplus by not raising taxes. Governor Pawlenty has also engaged strongly in education reform with better teacher pay and student standards, increased ethanol production to decrease foreign dependency on oil, welfare reform, health care reform by allowing a zero percent premium increase in the state insurance program and allowing the purchase of cheap prescription drugs from Canada and the U.K., and various initiatives to make government work more efficiently. Governor Pawlenty is also the Chair of the National Governors Association and Co-Chair of the McCain for President Campaign.
As a VP candidate, Pawlenty offers McCain strength in particular on the economic front due to his experience in balancing the budget- and doing so by not raising taxes, an argument McCain must make along with cutting pork barrel legislation. He is a proven leader- his executive experience as Governor and experience as the head of the National Governors Association will be handy to combine with McCain’s many years of legislative experience to combat either Hillary’s claim of ‘experience’ or Obama’s lack thereof. And a few other points to mention: Pawlenty cracked down on illegal immigrants, helping McCain make a case to his opponents of the McCain-Kennedy flop and also attends a conservative megachurch- a sign of getting values voters on board.
Mark Sanford Age 47, Governor (R-SC)
When elected in the whirlwind of the Republican Revolution in 1994, Mark Sanford vowed to represent the people in the 1st District- and indeed he did. He voted time and time again to lower taxes and even kept his word to oppose pork barrel projects by voting against pork barrel projects in his own district. To highlight his honors, he was voted #1 in the Congress by the Citizens Against Government Waste for his noble efforts by eliminating wasteful spending as well as garnering a 92% life-long conservative ranking by the American Conservative Union.
After pledging to run for three terms, Governor Sanford honored his pledge and in 2000, ran successfully for Governor of South Carolina and during his time in the Governorship, Gov. Sanford has closed the gap of a 1 billion dollar deficit to a surplus and at the same time, cut taxes drastically, engaged in tort reform, making government more transparent- especially by opening meetings to the public, and gave parents more options in educating their own children.
Governor Sanford can appeal directly to the small but vocal (and financially generous, as evidenced by the monetary success of the Ron Paul campaign) libertarian wing of the Republican Party. With small-government conservatives threatening to side with Bob Barr’s Libertarian camapaign or even the Constitution Party, Sanford could potentially coax some of those fickle voters into McCain’s column.
He also has economic credibility- seen by both balancing a budget and denying pork barrel spending to his own district. Both accomplishments will complement Senator McCain’s economic vision in the fall and give his message and gives Senator McCain’s argument more credibility. And his truthful nature also fits in with the theme of the “Straight Talk Express.”
Kay Bailey Hutchison, 64, Senator (R-TX)
Having been named to such lists as “The 30 most powerful women in America” by Ladies Home Journal, and “8 in ‘08” by TheWhiteHouseProject.org Kay Bailey Hutchison is a high ranking Republican Senator with a proven record. After winning her seat in the Senate in 1993 she has served the people of Texas well. Her voting record is one that will speak for itself, the National Journal agrees ranking her highly on the Economy, Social Issues, and Foreign Policy.
While serving she has voted to enact all abortion restrictions presented and provide for mandatory parental notification when a minor is involved. She currently serves on the Committee of Appropriations helping to structure the budget.
As a strong, solid conservative Hutchison could help draw the far right back to McCain’s corner. If Clinton does win the nomination the argument to vote for a woman would be negated. Although she is more than qualified for the position on ABC’s This Week when asked about the position she said “I think that Sen. McCain has a lot of options, I think he has to look at a lot of different factors. I don’t want to be vice president.”
Mike Pence Age 48, Representative of the 6th District (R-IN)
During his time in the House, Mike Pence has fought tirelessly for tax relief, especially or voting for both of Bush’s tax cuts, supporting the War in Iraq, opposing Senator McCain’s immigration plan and instead, supported closing the borders first and in a particular, having a guest worker program. Representative Pence has also served extensively in foreign affairs, touring many of the areas of American strategic interest, including Iraq, Israel, Egypt, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Turkey. Congressman Pence is also the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Middle East and South Asia of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
A strength that Representative Pence brings to the table is immigration- he was critical of John McCain’s original plan and if he is chosen, it proves that Senator McCain truly has changed his mind on the issue to secure the border first and gives his argument more strength to angry conservatives. He is also particularly enticing to values voters because of his personal priorities, listed by this quote: "(I am) a Christian, a conservative and a Republican, in that order." His charisma, honed by years on the radio, will have the unique ability to energize the many lethargic GOP voters that are going to be needed to win in the fall. And one cannot ignore his 100% rating for lifelong support for conservative values by the American Conservative Union.
Piyush ‘Bobby’ Jindal, 36, Governor (R-LA)
While he has just recently won his office as Governor of Louisiana this young star of the Republican Party makes a strong case to be the candidate. Before taking office as Governor he served Louisiana’s 1st district in Congress laying down a strong conservative record after being elected n 2005. In Congress he served as only the second Indian-American Representative and now serves as the first non-white Governor in Louisiana since Reconstruction after the Civil War.
Prior to that 2005 election he was narrowly defeated for the governorship in 2003 by a mere 4% of the vote to Kathleen Blanco.
Jindal will bring with him a strong conservative, and well-documented, record. He has been quoted as being “100% against abortions, no exceptions”. In Congress he helped push for a ban on flag burning, and voted for the Real ID Act of 2005. He receives high rankings from almost all conservative groups including an “A” ranking from the Gun Owners of America. In 1996 he was appointed to Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, a department that represented about 40% of the budget. Jindal had inherited a bankrupt Medicaid program and a $400 million deficit, when he left there was a $220 surplus.
A long shot due to his age, Jindal was quoted as saying “He’s not going to ask me” when asked about the Vice President position.
On top of these candidates we have previously mentioned, here is a short list of other candidates speculated to take the VP spot: Fmr. Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA), Gov. Charlie Crist (R-FL), former OMB Director Rob Portman (R-OH), Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS), Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (R-CA), Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), Fmr. Sen. Fred Thompson (R-TN), and Fmr. Gov. and Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge (R-PA).