Dole To Pick Running Mate That He Knows Well, Trusts

Sen. Bob Dole, the certain Republican presidential candidate, said Friday his vice presidential running mate will be someone he knows well and can trust.

The Senate majority leader said in an interview with The Hearst Newspapers that he will seek a running mate with whom he could have the same kind of close, easygoing relationship that he enjoyed with President Gerald Ford when he ran as Ford’s vice presidential nominee in 1976.

He will be looking for “somebody I know and somebody I have confidence in, somebody who understands the process, somebody with pretty much the same philosophy,” Dole said, adding: “I know most of the players out there pretty well. I’ve worked with them, a lot of bright governors out there, a lot of other people.”

Dole did not offer the names of any possible vice presidential contenders. Names prominently mentioned in recent speculation have included retired Gen. Colin Powell, former Defense Secretary Dick Cheney, New Jersey Gov. Christine Whitman, Ohio Gov. George Voinovich, Michigan Gov. John Engler and California Gov. Pete Wilson, a former member of the Senate.

Dole said that he was leery of using a high-profile search committee such as the one used by President Clinton to select his running mate in 1992.

“It’s like anything else, you can’t talk to too many people or you never make a decision, everybody’s got their own ideas,” Dole said. “Plus, it would get out.”

Dole said he respected the close working relationship between Clinton and Vice President Al Gore. He also noted that Carter and Vice President Fritz Mondale “had a pretty close relationship.”

“It’s got to be somebody you know and somebody you can work with, otherwise you don’t trust each other and you can’t have confidence that they won’t go out and yap, yap, yap,” Dole said.