Samuel Augustus Nunn
Southern. Bipartisan (and media) respect. Serious smarts. Gravitas. Nobel Peace Prize nominee. Corporate Money connects. No one will scare Bush-Cheney more.
The whole thrust of his campaign is to convince swing voters who are questioning or dissatisfied with Bush that Kerry is an alternative they can feel comfortable with, even if he is to their left.
This is a national security election. No one says national security like a specialist on nuclear threats and proliferation, bioterror, cyberwar and energy who is the Chairman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Co-Chairman and CEO of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, the former member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and Chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, the author (with Barry Goldwater) of the Department of Defense Reorganization Act, and the namesake of the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, the Nunn-Lugar-Domenici Domestic Preparedness and WMD Civil Support Teams, and the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs.
This is also a competence and gravitas election. No one says these things like a Distinguished Professor, charitable organization Chair and CEO, namesake of the Atlanta Federal Center, Board member of six corporations including GE, ChevronTexaco, Coca-Cola, and Dell, who succeeded the great Richard Russell in the Senate and went on to serve four terms, chairing two committees.
And it's a bipartisan election. No one says bipartisan like a conservative (but real) Democrat described by USA Today as a "voice of reason in a cacophony of partisanship," by Colin Powell as "one of the great legislators of our times," who helped found the DLC and is a Co-Chair of the long-term-thinking fiscal-responsibility Concord Coalition. In 1990, he said "I am uncomfortable with the post-Vietnam War Democratic National Party and its liberal image" (but added that "Part of that image is reality, part of it is unfair" and that he considered Jimmy Carter to be in the middle of the political spectrum).
But Nunn isn't just a national candidate, he's a Southerner. He's highly respected (perhaps loved, even) in Georgia, and you can expect that to impact the five states that surround it, changing the national conversation. Are we going to win AL or SC or even TN? Not on your life. But it's possible he could make more of a difference in Northern FL than Graham would. And picking a candidate from a red state would be a bold move - it shows we want to play on their territory.
He will also have small-town/rural appeal. He was born and educated in small town GA, a boy scout, spent some time working on his family's farm, served on the Senate's small business and rural economy and family farming committees, and headed his local chamber of commerce.
And he'll have a military impact. He was born near Robins AFB in GA, and helped send a lot of money there in Congress. He served in the Coast Guard and the Reserves. And he is the grandnephew of former Congressman Carl Vinson, namesake of the aircraft carrier and the first living American to have a Navy ship named after him.
How would the media respond? Potentially joyously, given the surprise factor and the pick of a corporate-friendly Democrat. And think of the reaction at Atlanta-based CNN.
And how would the Republicans respond? With worry and disbelief.
One more important consideration - what would this say about John Kerry? That he is willing to cooperate by picking someone to his right. That he respects Southerners by picking one of their own who is his elder, without getting into good-old-boy stereotyping. That he favors a strong but not stupid foreign policy.
And what's the kicker? Nunn has been nominated this year (for the third time) with Dick Lugar for the Nobel Peace Prize. The awards are announced in mid-October. How much do you think the Nobel committee would love to give an award to the VP nominee as a statement against Bush? How's that for an October Surprise? (of course, lots of other people are nominated, including the Pope)
But, you say, the VP is supposed to get people excited and Nunn is no campaigner. We don't need someone to get us excited. We know how important this is already. This election is not about us or the liberal resurgence. It's about giving the swing-voting public someone they trust to protect them when they've figured out they distrust Bush, Cheney and Kerry. It's about preventing Bush from destroying the country by any means necessary.
But, you say, isn't he the same as Bush? I dunno, does Bush oppose pre-emption and want negotiation with North Korea? Did Bush strongly oppose Gulf War I? Nunn's right-leaning tendencies on social issues are an electoral asset but overstated by the left. And anyway, he's the VP, not the President.
But, you say, the VP is supposed to be an attack dog. Well, who needs an attack dog when you have the entire Democratic party doing that for you? When you have Howard Dean, John Edwards, and Wesley Clark to be your surrogates? When you have Fahrenheit 9/11 and the Kitty Kelley book? When you have the 9/11 Commission and Patrick Fitzgerald? Regardless, Sam Nunn is the only guy you can count on to know just as much as Cheney in a debate and they have a defense policy rivalry that goes back 15 years.
Sam Nunn is hands-down the best veep choice. If he'll do it.