[Daryn Kagan, Cnn Anchor:] Today's top story: George W. Bush's search for a vice presidential running mate. Aides to the likely Republican presidential nominee don't expect him to name his choice before tomorrow. The most talked about possibilities over the past couple days: former Senator John Danforth of Missouri and former Defense Secretary Dick Cheney. Cheney got a big nod this morning from a one-time national security adviser who served with him during the gulf war era.
[Brent Scowcroft, Fmr. Natl. Security Adviser:] He would add a lot to the ticket because what he brings is what Governor Bush does not have, and that is practical experience in working in Washington and in making the government work. He's been in both the executive branch and in the legislative branch, and so he knows both perspectives.
[Kagan:] Scowcroft also praised Danforth for what he calls "towering integrity" and an outstanding history of service in the Senate.
[Bill Hemmer, Cnn Anchor:] Our senior political analyst, Bill Schneider, is keeping watch on all of it.
[Kagan:] And he's joining us now from our Washington bureau. Bill, good morning once again.
[William Schneider, Cnn Senior Political Analyst:] Good morning, Daryn.
[Kagan:] They're dotting their "I"s and crossing their "T"s on this possible veep selection. When they look at Dick Cheney, are they going to find a pretty conservative background and record?
[Schneider:] Oh, sure. He is a conservative, perfectly acceptable to the conservative wing of the party, but he's not a harsh partisan, and therefore he's a good match with Governor Bush, who is conservative but has put aside the kind of harsh partisanship one associates with the Gingrich era in the Houston convention of 1992 that renominated his father more of a Ronald Reagan type: expansive, inclusive, that style of conservativism.
[Hemmer:] Hey, Bill, I'm confused here on one thing.
[Schneider:] Yes.
[Hemmer:] Dick Cheney last week, according to reports, changed his official address from Dallas back to Wyoming, his home state. Why does this 12th Amendment exist that says the president and the vice president on the same ticket can't come from the same state?
[Schneider:] Oh...
[Hemmer:] It seems a bit I can understand it from 200 years ago, but it seems a bit antiquated. Where is that?
[Schneider:] A lot of people think it's antiquated. It was written way back when there were a very small number of states and they were all very jealous of each other and didn't want any one state...
[Hemmer:] Right, true.
[Schneider:] ... like the big ones, Virginia and Massachusetts in those days, dominating the presidency or the federal government. So they said that the electors of any one state in this case, Texas shall not be allowed to vote for a president and a vice president from the same state as themselves. So that if Cheney continued to live in Texas, where he now works, the electors of Texas and there are a lot of them could not vote for both Bush and Cheney. By moving back to Wyoming, which he represented in Congress, they avoid that problem.
[Hemmer:] Got it.
[Kagan:] Tell us a little more about former Senator Danforth. I think he came to prominence in a lot of people's minds during the Clarence Thomas nomination situation and chapter of American history. Could his involvement and the way he was outspoken during that time come back to hurt him?
[Schneider:] Well, there is some view that his sponsorship of Clarence Thomas, his testimony in favor of Thomas, might still create controversy. But you've got to remember that he was Thomas' patron. Thomas was a staff member for Senator Danforth so it was really a personal less than an ideological relationship, because when Danforth came to the Senate in the 1970s, he was widely regarded as a moderate Republican. That's a swear word these days: No Republican wants to be called a moderate. But one of the first things Danforth did was lead support for the Panama Canal treaties. Now, opposition to the Panama Canal treaties by Ronald Reagan and other conservatives was a kind of test case, a litmus test, if you will, of conservativism, and Danforth was opposed to them. Danforth is a conservative by most measures. He's an interesting mix. He's a minister, an ordained Episcopalian minister, who is both anti-abortion, and he's anti-death penalty. On a lot of issues, he is very acceptable to the moderates; probably more moderate than Dick Cheney.
[Hemmer:] Bill, quickly here, shoot this idea down we talked about earlier: John Kasich from Ohio. He's from one of those swing states. Ohio has picked every presidential election for the past 150 years or something like that, since 1803, whenever they were elected. He's bright, he's young I think he's about 47 years old why not go with that and completely remove yourself from a past administration that worked with your father?
[Schneider:] Well, that's a very good idea and I think you've got a good argument there because one of the defects of a Cheney appointment is that it makes Bush II look a lot like Bush I. It looks like he's taking his father's advice because he was very close to the former President Bush. Kasich: Why is that a problem? He comes from an important state, just as you indicate, but there is the problem it's a funny image kind of problem, and in a way it's quite unfair. John Kasich is young. He's attractive...
[Hemmer:] He's smart. He'knows budget matters.
[Schneider:] ... he's not known. Yes, and he is an expert. He was the chairman of the House Budget Committee so he has a lot of experience. He's very youthful, he's very exuberant, and I think he's a very effective campaigner in a way that even Dick Cheney is not. So why not pick him? Well, to a lot of people, they'd say, my goodness, he's unknown, youthful, exuberant: Does that remind people of Dan Quayle? And, you see, his father, Bush's father, picked Dan Quayle and many people regard that as a mistake. So what his father may be saying is, don't do like I did, do like I say. Don't pick a Dan Quayle-type person, young and inexperienced and unknown, pick someone who's established like Dick Cheney.
[Hemmer:] It's fun to speculate anyway, isn't it?
[Schneider:] Everybody does it. Of course, only one guy knows what's going on.
[Hemmer:] You're right. Bill, thanks.
[Schneider:] Sure.
[Kagan:] Yes, but he doesn't even know quite yet.
[Hemmer:] We will see. Bill, thanks. Talk to you again.
[Schneider:] Sure.
[Hemmer:] Bye-bye.