6/05/00 12:55 p.m.
Enter the Decoy
The sound you hear is the air leaving Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge, at least for the moment....

By National Review Staff

he sound you hear is the air leaving Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge, at least for the moment. The phrase Bushies and close observers of the campaign are now associating with Ridge isn't "veep frontrunner" so much as "pro-choice decoy."

The smart talk is that the foremost liability of a Ridge VP candidacy would be the solid week of press focus on the abortion issue as soon as he is selected. Bush and Ridge would spend days trying to justify their divergent views on the issue, no matter what — the media wouldn't let them talk about anything else (in a NRO interview earlier this week, James Carville is particularly perceptive on the media's fixation with abortion).

Most Bush campaign officials and close observers think the top dogs in the Bush operation are shrewd enough to realize this. So why the flirtation with Ridge? Old Texas hands say it is vintage George W. — very publicly reaching out to pro-choicers to seem "inclusive," than reliably ending up on the side of pro-lifers. They don't expect the VP nomination to turn out any differently.

In this scenario, Ridge is perfect to be placed prominently on the "short list," but not actually on the ticket. As more reporters clue into this, more attention will focus in on the new thing, Jack Danforth, and possibly the new, new thing, Fred Thompson (who has a pro-choice problem of his own).

Ridge may have gotten the closest he will ever be to the Bush ticket over the course of the last three weeks.