Dole's VP Search Expands

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, July 22) -- In another sign of the electoral importance of the industrial Midwest, the vice presidential search team for GOP candidate Robert Dole has interviewed another two Republican governors: Jim Edgar of Illinois and Tommy Thompson of Wisconsin.

Those two men were interviewed late last week, and two other midwestern governors, John Engler of Michigan and Ohio's George Voinovich have also been contacted by the search team, according to The Associated Press.

Add those four candidates to two others, Gov. Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania and former S.C. Governor Carroll Campbell, who were previously contacted, and the Dole team so far has focused its search on a half-dozen men. And there may well be others yet to come. Dole wants to unveil his choice right before the Republican National Convention, which begins Aug. 12 in San Diego.

These vice presidential prospects are being reviewed by lawyer Roderick DeArment, and they are providing him with detailed financial, biographical and medical information. They must also divulge whether they have ever hired domestic help and if they properly paid Social Security and other taxes, a clear attempt to avoid problems that plagued several of President Bill Clinton's early nominees for administration posts.

One condition for the veep candidate is clear: he must be in good health, according to Dole, who turns 73 today. That would seem to eliminate Edgar, who had quadruple bypass surgery in July 1994 and has suffered several other health problems.

The strength of Thompson, 54, is as champion of innovative welfare reform in Wisconsin. Engler, 47, has been touted from the start, even though he was slow to endorse Dole and did not serve in Vietnam because he was a few pounds overweight. Voinovich, 60, won re-election in 1994 in a landslide; plus, he was the first governor to endorse Dole.

Dole's VP Search Expands

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