Dole Confirms Kemp Is Being Considered For Veep

By Gene Randall/CNN

SAN DIEGO, Calif. (CNN) -- Likely GOP nominee Bob Dole has confirmed in a telephone conversation with CNN's Robert Novak that former Housing Secretary Jack Kemp is on the list of three people being considered for the No. 2 spot.

"He definitely wants people to know that he is giving Jack Kemp serious consideration," Novak said. "If he was not going to pick him, would he do that?" Dole expects to make his final decision on a sometime Friday, and to make the announcement Saturday in Russel, Kansas.

Dole and Kemp met for a "substantial" period of time Wednesday evening in Dole's Watergate apartment, according to a Republican source. Kemp met with Dole aides Thursday morning at an unspecified place in northern Virginia, the source said.

A former New York representative and author of the Reagan tax cuts, Kemp has not yet decided if he would accept the nomination if it is offered, a campaign source said, but was expected to make up his mind Thursday. When asked by CNN if he was considering taking the second slot to Dole, Kemp replied, "It's hard to think something over that has NOT been offered."

Kemp said the campaign indicated that there was a role that Dole wanted him to play but that campaign officials have not formally told him what that role is.

Dole and Kemp have had a troubled political relationship in past years, and in the 1996 GOP primaries Kemp endorsed publisher and flat tax advocate Steve Forbes. Dole has disagreed with Kemp's beloved supply-side economics, but Dole's recently released economic package follows the Kemp model of tax cuts based largely on projected economic growth.

Party veterans say a Kemp move would be prudent. Says GOP strategist Eddie Mahe, "It makes political sense because Jack Kemp has a national constituency, because he's an experienced national candidate, (and) because the whole issue of tax cuts and supply side economics, Jack Kemp invented."

Dole Confirms Kemp Is Being Considered For Veep

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