7/05/00 1:25 p.m.
A Bear in the Bullpen
There is a prime veep pick who has been hiding in plain view.

By Kellyanne Fitzpatrick, CEO and president of the polling company

ecently the Washington Post jokingly posed the unthinkable: that Governor George W. Bush's selection for his Vice Presidential running mate is someone who had not yet been mentioned.  The chances of this, of course, are about the same that Jack Kemp will be chosen again. Non-stop navel gazing (otherwise referred to as "punditry") means that all possible candidates — and many of the impossible — have been posited, poked, profiled, and picked over 3,000 times already.

The Hotline has been running a list of the dozens of prospective GOP Veep picks that had been cited by someone, somewhere, complete with the number of times they had been mentioned for the job. Governor Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania topped the heap with 56 mentions. The list included nice folks with ˝ percent national name identification and zero elective experience.

Sure, it is unlikely that at this advanced stage, Governor Bush will venture beyond the tight list of individuals who have been vetted and auditioned for the big show. Still, if he is willing to chill the chattering class and go for "option D" ("none of the above") there is a prime pick who has been hiding in plain view.

The potential nominee is Jim Bunning, the junior senator from Kentucky, a swing state known for its bluegrass and borders Tennessee, home to Al Gore's blue blood. Consider Senator Bunning's "ABC's" of vice presidential timber: Accomplishments, Biography, and Conservatism:

He has served in both the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate;

He has ties to at least three swing states: Kentucky, the state he represents in the U.S. Senate; Ohio, the state where he attended college on a basketball scholarship (Xavier University); Pennsylvania, the state in which he played Major League Baseball (Philadelphia Phillies).

In his run for Senate in 1998, his TV ads ran in the living rooms of voters in four states:  Tennessee, West Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky.

He married his high school sweetheart and — a bonus — he still is married to her. Together, they have nine children and 33 grandchildren.

He is pro-life;

He had a career outside of politics, and in an arena most Americans like more, professional sports.

He pitched a perfect game on Father's Day 1963 at Shea Stadium; He is enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

And he is considered one of the most knowledgeable members on Social Security, having served as chairman of the relevant subcommittee.

Those looking for "inclusiveness" and "compassion" may note Senator Bunning's  sponsorship of legislation on behalf of vaccines and transracial adoption, and his participation in a players' union while a major leaguer.

Moreover, the Bush for President campaign recently acquired a key Bunning staffer, a crackerjack in statewide Kentucky politics. Kyle Simmons, an effective and knowledgeable star on Capitol Hill, has served as chief of staff to Kentucky Republican senator Mitch McConnell. He went home to Kentucky in 1998 to manage then-congressman Bunning's squeaker victory for the open Democratic Senate seat. Mr. Simmons recently moved to Austin, a good thing for the Bush campaign, since knowledge of statewide politics in Kentucky actually means knowledge of the politics along the Cincinnati river, which brings together three important states (Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana), and has served as a bellwether in the past few elections.

No doubt, the critics will throw bombs at the Bunning suggestion (hopefully they also weighed in when folks had suggested Wayne Gretzky for GOP Veep or Cybill Shepherd for President).  Of course, there are a few strikes against this former all-star pitcher. There is no indication that he is close to Gov. Bush, or that Gov. Bush is comfortable with him — apparently one criterion that has helped maintain a buzz about Governors Ridge and Keating.  The nomination of Sen. Bunning would place a precious Republican Senate seat into the open just when many in the GOP are beginning to admit that some of this year's races may be tighter than expected.

Some of the more thoughtful pundits no doubt will see Mr. Bunning's height as a detriment to his heft. He, like Governor Ridge, is taller than George W. Bush. (The example that supposedly proves that this would be a bad thing is the 1988 race — as though this is really why Dukakis-Bentsen lost.) Still, the greatest drawback for Bunning is that he has not been mentioned as a potential veep 300 times before.  The echo chamber does not like to be caught muttering, "Why didn't I think of that?" This was the elite's real problem with Vice President Bush's selection of Dan Quayle as his running mate in 1988. Too few of them had been familiar with the 41-year-old senator from Indiana and had certainly not inserted his name ad nauseum into their soothsaying stories prior to the announcement at the convention in New Orleans.

Then again, Senator Bunning's conspicuous absence from the veepstakes could be an asset. Whatever became of Jack Kemp during his debate with Al Gore four years ago, and ultimately of the Dole-Kemp ticket that fall, Sen. Dole's selection of Mr. Kemp in 1996 initially seemed bold and inspired.  It heartened many Reagan Republicans and also helped to shift the convention buzz among the pro-choice media from their predictably myopic coverage of the pro-life plank of the GOP platform to the addition of Kemp, himself a former professional athlete whose elective experience on Capitol Hill could have helped shepherd through legislation with former colleagues in the critical first 100 days of a Dole-Kemp administration.

So, can a legendary starting pitcher become a closer for a former team owner? At the very least, it would be fun to watch the Gore campaign try to match the Bunning selection from their barren bullpen. 

Trivia time: Which Democrat is a former professional athlete and United States Senator from a swing state? Bill Bradley. Ouch.