Spelling Out The Job Specs

By WALTER SHAPIRO

Retiring New Hampshire Senator Warren Rudman, who vaulted to folk-hero status when he announced he was leaving Congress in frustration over the deficit, laughs at the question. Why is he suddenly on the lists as everyone's prototypical Vice President -- both Democrat Bill Clinton's and independent Ross Perot's? "Because they don't know me," Rudman cracks. "If you pressed me, I suppose it's because I have credibility as someone with integrity and as a square shooter. And for a Republican, I'm not highly partisan."

( Rudman, in short, offers the rarest of commodities in the current vice- presidential veepstakes -- Washington experience coupled with the image of a truth-telling outsider. For in the latest irony in a peculiar political year, both Clinton and Perot have been musing about similar -- even identical -- vice-presidential nominees. As political analyst Kevin Phillips puts it, "What Perot needs in a Vice President is someone who's political, yet puts the finger in the eye of the politicians. Someone like Rudman. And Clinton too needs a running mate who reinforces his outsider status with Perot swing voters."

The problem with this speculation is that Rudman himself is not available. "I would not serve as a Vice President for anyone ever," he declares. Another crossover name is Colin Powell. But again the same pitfall: there are no signs that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff wants to be the first black candidate on anyone's national ticket.

For Clinton, still running third in the national polls, the vice- presidential choice represents his best opportunity to put his campaign back on track. The stakes are even higher for Perot, who needs to prove that he can govern without the benefit of a political party. But Perot also risks jeopardizing his all-things-to-all-voters appeal if he selects a Vice President who comes complete with heavy ideological baggage.

Jack Kemp, George Bush's disgruntled Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, is one name being pushed hard in Perot circles. New York leveraged-buyout specialist Theodore Forstmann, a Kemp presidential fund raiser in 1988, is trying to broker a marriage between Kemp and Perot. Some of Kemp's political advisers argue that running with Perot represents Kemp's best chance to be elected President himself in 1996. Others counsel caution -- Kemp's favored political style -- contending that bolting the g.o.p. would permanently brand the supply-side conservative a pariah. Kemp's probable reluctance illustrates Perot's quandary in finding a credible running mate willing to risk his political career on one roll of the dice.

Third-party candidates often stumble badly in their quest for a plausible No. 2. Remember General Curtis ("Bomb Them Back to the Stone Age") LeMay, George Wallace's 1968 ticket mate? Perot has already tapped retired Admiral James Stockdale, a conservative former Vietnam pow, as his stand-in running mate to get on the ballot in all 50 states. Perot calls Stockdale his "fail- safe fallback" and has said that he will, if necessary, "just go with the team we have."

Clinton may make his final decision this week when he heads off on vacation (destination: top secret) with his wife Hillary. So far, Clinton has kept his short list of prospects under tight wraps. But the factors shaping Clinton's choice are likely to include:

Geography: Gone are the days when regional balance was the holy grail of vice-presidential selection. Clinton's polls show that only New York's reluctant Governor Mario Cuomo helps the ticket nationwide. That is why part of the calculus involves searching for a running mate who would at minimum help Clinton carry one major state. Some of the possibilities with the right zip code include: Cuomo, Texas Governor Ann Richards, Pennsylvania Senator Harris Wofford and Senator Paul Simon of Illinois.

Image: With Perot in the race, Clinton risks forsaking his outsider credentials if he picks a running mate too tied to the Washington status quo. "People sense that Bill Clinton is a little too slick," says a campaign insider. "So it would make sense for him to have someone a little rough around the edges." But who has both an unorthodox flair and the political heft to burnish the ticket? The short list includes: Richards (the funniest political put-down artist in Democratic politics); Wofford (at 66, an elder- statesman type newly elected to the Senate); and freshman Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman (an orthodox Jew who does not campaign on Saturdays).

Security: From the revelation of Tom Eagleton's electroshock treatments in 1972 to the disclosure of Geraldine Ferraro's tangled finances in 1984, the Democrats have a history of star-crossed vice-presidential nominees. That is why the safest choice might be someone who has already been tested in a national campaign, like the trio of 1988 presidential contenders -- Tennessee Senator Al Gore, House majority leader Richard Gephardt and Simon. Gore, a hot prospect on the Washington rumor mill, would add needed foreign-policy expertise to the ticket.

Back in 1968, Richard Nixon offered the axiom, "A Vice President cannot help you, he can only hurt you." That insight, of course, did not prevent Nixon from choosing Spiro Agnew, but in the veepstakes risk often outweighs reward. Yet for Clinton and Perot selecting a Vice President will be a true defining moment. That one choice will symbolize who they are, what they represent and the type of people they hope to bring into their Administration. That's why one can imagine in Hollywood fashion both Clinton and Perot shouting to their aides, "Get me someone like Warren Rudman."