Pennsylvania: Dems put out another poll showing Kanjorski in the lead
New Jersey: Shulman and Garrett to engage in three debates
Pennsylvania: A day to court Jewish voters in Philly
Ohio: DCCC drops over $120K into OH-1 for media buys
Oregon: NRSC releases three new ads attack ads against Merkley's record
New Jersey: In NJ-4, Zeitz says Smith is ducking debate
New Hampshire: Hodes, Shea-Porter camps declare victory after debate
Ohio: Ohio Democrats still hiring canvassers
Massachusetts: Kerry denounces McCain campaign for its 'ugliness'
Maryland: House and Senate GOP oppose early voting amendment

July 23, 2008 - 10:20am

Pick the Cabinet early

If only Al Gore had asked Bill Clinton to more actively campaign for him during the final weeks of the 2000 election, the vice president would have succeeded the president. Or so went one of the many knocks on Gore's campaign. Instead, Gore's campaign put the Tennessean, his running mate Joe Lieberman, and his wife Tipper on the hustings as the top draws.

This year, with U.S. Sen. Barack Obama receiving rock-star coverage of his overseas trip and his every move back home, U.S. Sen. John McCain could find himself faced with the same dilemma. But whereas Clinton remained largely popular, the Arizona Republican has no similarly popular ally in President Bush. Instead, he will have to invent his own surrogates, perhaps by making bold moves no other campaign has made. McCain may want to name his cabinet early.

All eyes are on both McCain's and Obama's choices for vice president. Those two nominees, when their names are made public, will serve as top surrogates for their respective candidates. But their selections will not placate all the groups who need to be assuaged. Inevitably, liberals or conservatives will be inflamed by a moderate pick, while moderates could be alienated by a pick designed to make the base happy.

By going farther and naming future nominees for attorney general, secretary of Defense and other key positions, both Obama and McCain could add to their ranks of top surrogates, and, as the election approaches, create a veritable army of main draws available to hit every major market on a virtually daily basis.

The concept is one others in Washington have contemplated. Grover Norquist, the conservative activist whose no-new-taxes pledge has attracted signatures of hundreds of candidates and incumbents from Republican ranks across the country, told this writer that designating issue-specific surrogates would go farther with certain groups than picking a vice presidential candidate. "If I knew [former U.S. Sen. Phil] Gramm [R-Texas] would be the secretary of the Treasury, I wouldn't have to get out of bed," Norquist joked.

After his highly publicized and controversial comments calling the country a nation of whiners, designating Gramm as the next Treasury secretary seems a remote possibility. In fact, Gramm's comments highlight the trouble with thinking too far into the future. In this era of YouTube, blogs and non-stop cable campaign coverage, every surrogate's every word is parsed, and even the smallest misstatements can get someone fired.

Just recall Samantha Power, the Obama adviser who called U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton a monster. Or Geraldine Ferraro, whose assertion that sexism against Clinton was worse than racism against Obama got her kicked out of HillaryLand. Or any of the several current and former lobbyists who played a role in McCain's campaign before being forced out, all of whom might have served in prominent bureaucratic posts in his administration.

Still, the risk of a less-than-artful statement amplified by constant news coverage is mitigated for the same reason: With some new pseudo-scandal popping up every day, yesterday's comments become old news. And soon-to-be Cabinet appointees who can still draw a crowd, and are good at sticking to talking points, may outweigh the YouTube risk.

Like a running mate, other Cabinet surrogates could each fulfill one of several functions. Ideology is one of those functions: If McCain needs to reach out to conservatives to convince them he will pick judges up to their standards, Norquist suggested he tap former Solicitor General Theodore Olson. Should Obama decide to send a message to the Left, he might signal that one-time rival John Edwards would be his top Justice official.

Both presidential candidates have the opportunity to cross the aisle with at least one Cabinet post, and at least Obama has already suggested that he might set up his advisers like Lincoln's so-called team of rivals. During Obama's high-profile trip to the Middle East, he was joined not only by U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat, but also by retiring U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican; both were former Army officers, and both could find spots in Obama's Cabinet. Reed, who has a seat on the Armed Services panel, could wind up the next secretary of Defense, though reports indicate that Obama is likely to keep incumbent Robert Gates on the job for at least a little while. Hagel, who served as Ronald Reagan's first deputy administrator of Veterans' Affairs, could find himself heading the same department in an Obama administration.

McCain needs to look no farther than one of his most prominent U.S. Senate backers, Connecticut's Joe Lieberman, an Independent Democrat. The former attorney general of his home state, Lieberman could fill the same role in a McCain administration. Given his tenure as ranking member and now chairman of the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, Lieberman might be a good candidate to replace Michael Chertoff as the third Homeland Security chief. In fact, any choice of a member of the opposite party would be a guaranteed newsmaker, vaulting the story to the top of the headlines.

Finally, good old fashioned geography could be a powerful driver in choosing Cabinet officials. Making it known that former House Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt would be Obama's Labor secretary then having Gephardt camp out in his home state of Missouri could bolster Obama's chances in the Show Me State. Choosing Mitt Romney, if he's not the vice presidential selection, as Treasury secretary could do McCain some serious good in Michigan and New Hampshire, where the former Massachusetts governor has a vacation home. And should Obama consider Bill Richardson for secretary of State or McCain want to tap former Colorado Gov. Bill Owens for any of a number of Cabinet posts, the candidates would only bolster their Western credentials.

Of course, the truly qualified surrogate is one who is well-known, while the qualified Cabinet member doesn't require that same credential. Few would recognize Obama adviser Eric Holder, for example, long thought to be a leading attorney general candidate. Even a top general like retired Marine four-star James Jones, who has appeared with both candidates and considers McCain a friend, might not draw a crowd even though qualified for any number of administration jobs.

But naming at least a few Cabinet-level advisers during the run-up to the conventions and then in the final eight-week sprint might be worth the headlines, especially for an oxygen-starved team like McCain's, regardless of the risk. Such selections would be akin to walking several tightropes, for sure, but they would provide an unique approach to recruiting surrogates and constituencies, both geographic and ideological.

And while both candidates vet their vice presidential options thoroughly, what might one do with a clean vice presidential candidate who nonetheless just doesn't make the cut? If there aren't any skeletons in the closet, it would seem an awful waste to let a good set of research rot without putting it to use. Making someone else a Cabinet member-designate could be a trend-setting kickstart for presidential elections to come.

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