Mullings A Political Cyber Column By Rich Galen

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Searching For Perfection

Monday, July 24, 2000

You could hardly catch your breath, here in Your Nation's Capital over the weekend, what with all the phone lines burning up with the Who-Is-Bush-Going-To-Pick question from people who don't know anything, to people who don't know anything, who then call other people who don't know anything to share what they learned from the first person.

And they say garbage recycling doesn't work. Hah!

The McCain boomlet on Thursday (which was not, in fairness, started by McCain or his loyalists) was quickly tamped down by Friday night with the Dick Cheney boomlet taking its place on Saturday and Sunday. McCain and Cheney had supplanted the John Danforth boomlet who had provided Wednesday's breathlessness and who, in turn, had superseded last WEEK'S "it'sgonnabe" Frank Keating of Oklahoma who is now first on nobody's list, with the possible exception of the only guy who counts: George W.

David Jackson, of the Dallas Morning News did a roundup from Austin yesterday:

"Decisions, Decisions. As George W. Bush ponders who his running mate will be, he will also be deciding what he wants to bring to the Republican ticket. He must also weigh the positive and negative attributes of each of his potential nominees.

"If anybody was perfect, they would be the nominee," GOP analyst Rich Galen said."

Of course, in retrospect I wish I had said: "If anybody WERE perfect �" which, if I HAD said, I might be but, as I didn't, it only goes to prove I'm not.

If Governor Bush could convince General Colin Powell to hop on the ticket the nation could save about $140 million in federal funds. And I'm not so sure �

Although we tend to forget this, Al Gore has to choose a running mate, too. Here's my suggestion: Both sides should pick the guy who was in charge of managing the VP selection process. The GOP would end up with Dick Cheney. Gore would end up with Warren Christopher. Fair's fair.

Oh, before I forget. Mullings' new home, SpeakOut.com, is doing a neat thing with MSNBC during the conventions. You will be able to participate in a national, demographically correct, on-line dial poll.

As each speaker appears in both the Republican and Democratic conventions, you will be able to crank up your computer and dial poll along as you watch the coverage on MSNBC.

If you don't do this, I don't want to hear you whine: "I don't know who they're polling. I NEVER get called to participate in a poll." Here's your chance.

For instructions on how to sign up click here.

Karen Hughes - Bush Communications Director, and Bob Shrum - Gore message maven, were both on Meet the Press yesterday. I happened to know them both and (I may be the only person on the planet who can or would say this) I like them both.

They are indicators of the two entirely different tacks these campaigns are taking. The Bush campaign is composed almost entirely of long-time supporters who move as one well-trained, well-drilled unit both in Austin and here in Washington.

The Gore campaign, after getting off to a rocky start and having to move all of its operations to Tennessee to dump the top-heavy staff which had accumulated, is now comfortable with the individual stars - Shrum, Carter Eskew to name but two who are running the operation.

You can make a case for either model. It will be fun to watch.

As regular readers are weary of hearing, this is not a national election, but 51 separate winner-take-all elections.

Fifty states get one electoral vote for each Member of Congress and two for their senators. That makes 535 (435 Members of the House and 100 Senators). Add three electors from the District of Columbia and you get 538 total electors. Divide by two you get 269. To win, you need one more than that or the 270 you read about every day.

If you come in first in a state - whether by majority or just a plurality - you get all of that state's electoral votes. You don't get any more electoral votes for winning by 58-42 than you get for winning by 52-48.

The Houston Chronicle's Julie Mason, in a copyrighted story yesterday, has a pretty good rundown of how that state-by-state election looks 106 days out and counting. To see Mason's piece, go here.

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Copyright © 2000 Richard A. Galen

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