4/26/00 2:50 p.m.
Filling the Void
It should be a personality contest!

By Brian Kennedy, communications consultant based in Nashville

s the sun set over the Pacific and the last confetti blasted above John and Cindy McCain on primary night in California, we entered the great abyss. For abysmal is the only way to describe the vast void between the beginning of March, when we effectively decide on our presidential nominees, and the end of July, when the nominees select their running mates and go about ignoring their Party platforms.

This void may be the greatest consequence of the absurd, hurry-up-and-wait method by which we select our nominees. After sprinting through the entire primary calendar in five weeks, we will now spend four months barely watching as the candidates repackage old ideas, seek new photo ops, raise soft money, and ruminate about whether New Jersey is a target state.

Here is one way to reignite the campaign. Let’s demand that the candidates use this otherwise dormant period to move beyond issues and into personalities: specifically, the personalities of the men and women who will comprise a Bush or Gore administration.

Starting in April, the candidates should name one key member of their administrations each week — cabinet secretary, senior White House aide, or even the head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division (because you know that’s always interesting). The truth is both nominees already know whom they will appoint. Enclosed with the receipts from their multi-million dollar gala, the Dreamworks team forwarded its list to the Gore camp. And down in Austin it is widely understood that unless you have a Presidential pedigree you don’t have the right profile for public service.

Here’s how it would work: On Monday morning, Governor Bush announces that if elected he would nominate Ohio Governor Bob Taft as Treasury Secretary, and once again set forth his plan on how to use the surplus. Gore promptly criticizes Bush’s plan and reminds the country that Taft’s great-grandfather was the architect of "a risky tax scheme" too. On Tuesday, Gore announces that Annette Bening will be his Treasury Secretary, and proclaims that the central defining economic policy of the Gore administration will be to give the surplus to soccer moms trapped in unhappy marriages.

And what’s to stop Pat Buchanan from joining the fray? I personally would be extremely interested to know who exactly is going to make up a Reform Party administration. Who takes over at Foggy Bottom? Bob Jones III or John Rocker?

Now the media beast would not go hungry. The media would no longer have to cover wonky policy speeches; instead, the boys on the bus could spend a day or two examining the Taft and Bening picks. Political pundits could offer insight as to the clever strategic considerations that went into naming the prospective nominees. (The Bening selection is a bold move to attract Warren Beatty supporters.) Throughout the week, Dateline, 20/20, 60 Minutes, Larry King Live, Tim, Sam, Cokie, and the whole Capital Gang could feature joint appearances by the prospective nominees. Chris Matthews could have a new guest.

This process would also serve to focus voter attention on issues by making the discussion of those issues more entertaining. While voters may not always be particularly issue-oriented, they are always intrigued by personalities. The electorate might be willing to tune in for a debate over school choice if, instead of Al and George going at it again, they were treated to the fresh new faces of prospective Education Secretaries Rob Reiner and David Eisenhower.

For candidates and their campaign staffs, the advantages and disadvantages are readily apparent.

Candidates get more attention, but they also get more headaches. Tony Coelho has to place that late night call to Al Gore and warn him that the New York Times is set to report that Interior Secretary-designate Rosie O’Donnell was fined in 1993 for hunting without a license. After several days of damage control, the Gore camp cuts its losses, Rosie withdraws her name and Gore quickly names Alec Baldwin to put the mess behind him.

A clear upside is that candidates would have more headliners for Party dinners to help with the hard work of amassing soft money. "The Republican National Committee is proud to invite you to an evening with the next Attorney General, Neil Bush; Labor Secretary Trip Hoover; Veterans Affairs Secretary Robin Dole; Housing Secretary Maureen Reagan; and United Nations Ambassador Tricia Nixon."

After ten weeks of setting up a government, the candidates just might provide the electorate with some idea of who is ready to govern and where they want to lead the country. The conventions could feature the government-in-waiting. The campaigns could use the moral authority of these shadow governments to argue that the party is not truly represented by the extremists who wrote the platform. Then in the fall, the whole team could jump on the bus and tour from border to border, sea to sea. That alone would be telling. Will everybody get along? Will there be purges from the cabal even before the cabal takes over? Even the tell-all books industry would get a boost; "What I Saw Before the Revolution" comes to mind.

Al, George, don’t wait for the report from the reform commission — act today. George, you are a leader. Announce now your pick to head up the Pentagon. Al, you’re a fighter, so come out swinging. Tell us now who will be keeping secrets at the CIA. Come on, even you guys have to be a little bored.