Political commentator Lowman Henry, writing at PaTownHall.com, throws some cold water on the hot rumors that both Ed Rendell and Bob Casey are potential running mates for Barack Obama. And don't bet on Tom Ridge running with John McCain on the GOP ticket either, Henry says.
As much as both parties need to win Pennsylvania to claim the presidency, Rendell, Casey and Ridge have a lot of negatives attached to them. They might help their respective party win the Keystone State, but would be of little help in the rest of the country, according to Henry.
"It is inconceivable that the Democratic Party's base would accept a pro-life vice presidential nominee," Henry writes of freshman U.S. Sen. Bob Casey. "Former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge, who could do for John McCain what Bob Casey would do for Obama, has the same problem on the Republican side. The GOP base simply won't accept a pro-abortion nominee on the national ticket. Thus, both Ridge and Casey are disqualified."
Henry sees the VP slot as a dead-end job for Rendell.
"After two terms as mayor of Pennsylvania's largest city and a term and a half as governor Ed Rendell is used to being the chief executive and calling the shots," Henry writes. "Unless he is given Cheney-like responsibilities in an Obama Administration, the role would not suit him well. But perhaps the biggest drawback when it comes to Rendell is who would replace him as Governor of Pennsylvania. Lt. Governor Catherine Baker Knoll is the Democratic Party's version of the crazy aunt in the attic. She is a grandmotherly figure who is well liked, but who also completely and totally lacks the ability to function as governor of one of the nation's largest states."
Would Rendell pick his own political ambition over the prospect of turning over control of the state to a 77-year-old woman who once introduced him as "Edward G. Robinson"?
Read the full column here.
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