Parry: Clinton, Huckabee part of vice-president speculation
Posted on Friday, June 6, 2008
FAYETTEVILLE — The two 2008 presidential candidates with strong Arkansas ties — Hillary Clinton and Mike Huckabee — so far sound markedly different in their public reactions to the prospect of a vice presidential candidacy.
But either or both might get their respective parties’ vice presidential nomination, said Dr. Janine Parry, an assistant professor of political science.
Parry is also director of the Arkansas Poll, which regularly charts Arkansans’ opinions on numerous public issues.
Clinton, Arkansas’ first lady before serving as first lady of the nation, becoming U. S. senator from New York, and running for president, has so far been silent about her future political plans, Parry said.
Clinton might want to run for vice president, if asked to do so, on Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama’s ticket. But Clinton, an unconventional candidate in many ways, might pass on the offer of a vice presidential bid even if Obama were to offer it to her, Parry said.
It isn’t clear whether Clinton would take the No. 2 spot on a national ticket with Obama, but Republican candidate Huckabee, who served as Arkansas governor for 10 years, is these days making no secret of his desire to run for vice president with GOP presidential nominee (and U. S. Senator ) John McCain, Parry said.
Huckabee and Clinton began their campaigns saying they were presidential candidates only and not interested in the vice presidency. Both may have meant what they said then, but such candidate statements have a way of going by the wayside, and Huckabee has lately been saying he’d like to run with McCain, Parry said.
If Obama doesn’t choose Clinton for the Democrats ’ No. 2 spot there are many Democrat governors and others with whom the Illinois senator can comfortably run, Parry said. Obama’s best bet for a vice presidential candidate other than Clinton could be another woman, one who could help keep disappointed Clinton supporters, especially older women, voting Democratic, she said.
McCain faces an uphill fight to defeat Obama in the general election, despite the former’s edge in experience. But McCain cannot be counted out, Parry said.
The war in Iraq and the sagging U. S. economy are holding President George W. Bush’s poll numbers down, and voter dissatisfaction with Bush may well rub off on McCain this fall. Still, McCain and Bush had a tough contest for the GOP presidential nomination in 2000, and many voters may see McCain as being very different from Bush, Parry said.
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