Looking Out for No. 2

By KURT ANDERSEN

Gender, geography and politics will figure in the Veep selection

If Walter Mondale is indeed nominated, he may do as Ronald Reagan did in 1980, and reach out to his vanquished opponent. Gary Hart might help with young, upscale voters, and his presence on the ticket would provide a neat, superficial image of Democratic solidarity. On the other hand, Mondale could pick a woman. New York Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro or San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein (see TIME, June 4) would provide a major-party ticket with gender balance for the first time, in one stroke countering Mondale's reputation for timidity and, perhaps, galvanizing women to vote Democratic. Or he may take the standard approach and pick an uncontentious male who would offer simple geographical and ideological counterweight. In any event, Mondale said last week, the choice is "the most important single act by a presidential candidate." He assigned a senior adviser, John R. Reilly, to check out possible running mates, a process that will probably last until the convention.

Hart is a Westerner with flair, and slightly more to the center than Mondale: in theory, Hart would supply the requisite ticket balance. In reality, however, a Mondale-Hart ticket might amount to less than the sum of its parts. Says Hart: "I'm not sure if that would be a dream ticket." If he accepted the second spot, much of his essentially maverick appeal might be lost, since one of Hart's campaign premises is a rejection of back-room dealing. Campaign Manager Oliver Henkel, a friend for more than 20 years, thinks Hart is temperamentally unsuited for the job. "He'd be absolutely miserable," says Henkel. For his part, Hart insists, "I am not interested in being Vice President."

Among Democrats of every philosophical tint there is some pick-a-woman sentiment. The enthusiasm seems motivated more by wishful political calculation than by feminist feeling. Says Wisconsin Party Chairman Matthew Flynn: "Mondale has only one chance to win this election--if he picks a woman. He has to take a gamble." Ferraro, 48, is the leading female contender. As an Italian American from the East, Ferraro would provide political leavening. Feinstein, 50, the impressive Jewish mayor of a hip city, would help compensate for the nominee's Midwestern squareness.

If Mondale wants geographical balance, he could look south: Florida's moderately conservative Governor Bob Graham, 47, is sometimes mentioned. Mondale's strategists also talk about Chrysler Chairman Lee lacocca, 59, who is nationally celebrated for his corporate grit. But lacocca, ebullient and bossy, probably would not slide easily into a supporting role. Mark White, 44, elected Governor of Texas in 1982, has only a meager track record, but his presence on the ticket could help win his state's 29 electoral votes for the Democrats. If Ohio's 23 electoral votes look pivotal, Mondale might tap Senator John Glenn, 62.

Three men stand out as Mondale's most serious vice-presidential prospects. None is widely known. If winning Texas is paramount, Senator Lloyd Bentsen Jr. would be the reliable bet. Bentsen, 63, is a tried-and-true organization man and very conservative for a Democrat: the liberal Americans for Democratic Action gives him a 40 rating, which is in the Republican range. Indeed, Bentsen's political differences with Mondale may be too big to gloss over gracefully. His views on U.S. policy in Central America--he has supported CIA aid for the contra guerrillas in Nicaragua and does not rule out U.S. combat intervention in El Salvador--are not unlike the Reagan Administration's.

A bomber pilot in World War II, Bentsen strongly supports the MX missile and the B-l bomber, both of which Mondale opposes. Bentsen opposes a nuclear freeze, which Mondale firmly favors. Bentsen is against the protectionist domestic-content legislation; passage of the bill is a top priority with Mondale. Despite the differences, Bentsen would be comfortable running with Mondale. A President, he says, should not be surrounded by yes men.

Heir to an enormous South Texas real estate fortune, Bentsen was elected county judge at age 25, and to Congress at 27. In 1954, when he was 33, he went back home to build up his own business and did not return to Washington until 1971, as a Senator. Five years later, he ran for the Democratic presidential nomination. Hardly anyone noticed, and he dropped out of the race after a year. In the Senate, he is a leading member of the Finance Committee, and also acutely attuned to the complexities of immigration. As head of the Senate Democrats' re-election apparatus, he seems to revel in the prosaic details of fund raising, telephone banks and tracking surveys.

Bentsen's manner is patrician and somber, his speaking style stolid, less rousing even than Mondale's. According to Dallas Times Herald Columnist Molly Ivins, Bentsen "has the charisma of a dead catfish." But he is nonetheless popular with both Republicans and Democrats in Texas and has a loyal following among Mexican Americans, who appreciate his fluency in Spanish. He won re-election in 1982 with 59% of the vote, the highest plurality in a Texas Senate race since 1958. Bentsen, however, might exacerbate Mondale's single biggest campaign embarrassment so far: the Texan gets more Political Action Committee contributions than any other Senate Democrat.

Senator Dale Bumpers, 58, of Arkansas has lots of natural pizazz and down-home charm. A Marine sergeant in World War II, he practiced law and ran a hardware store in Charleston, Ark. (pop. 1,748), before he decided to try for political office. In 1970 he won the governorship. After a second term, he was elected to the Senate. "Dale is a cross between John F. Kennedy and a Methodist minister," ventures Little Rock Attorney Robert Brown, a former Bumpers aide. "He really turns on a crowd."

If Mondale offers Bumpers a spot on the ticket, Brown thinks he would accept "in a red-hot minute." But aides also thought Bumpers would be running for President this year. Bumpers decided in April 1983 that he would be unable to raise enough money to carry on a serious campaign. A vice-presidential race, even if it fails, would provide national exposure that might enhance Bumpers' presidential prospects in 1988. But his nomination in San Francisco in July, says Bumpers breezily, "is not going to happen." Why not? "Lloyd Bentsen would bring five times as many electoral votes as I would."

Bumpers is somewhat more centrist than Mondale--he has voted contrary to organized labor's wishes--but with an A.D.A. rating of 85, he would create no real ideological clash. Brown says Bumpers is able to explain his liberal positions "in such a way that he neutralizes the opposition, and the people come away saying, 'Hey, I never thought of it that way.' " Bumpers, an assertive member of the Energy Committee, is probably the most liberal Southerner in the Senate. He voted against the B-l bomber. He has supported human rights conditions on military aid to El Salvador. On a ticket with Mondale, he would be able to run effectively against the Reagan budget deficit: Bumpers was one of just three Senators who voted in favor of Reagan's 1981 spending cuts but against his huge tax cuts.

In some ways, New York Governor Mario Cuomo is like Bumpers. Both are liberal, vaguely populist lawyers, but neither is doctrinaire. Both first achieved elective office in their 40s. Each has the enviable knack of persuading the press of his soulfulness and decency. Cuomo, 52, could add some passion and streetwise piquancy to a Mondale ticket. Like Ferraro, he is an Italian American from the New York City borough of Queens. Ideologically, he is close to Mondale, but some party strategists, arguing in favor of Cuomo, think Mondale should not worry about orthodox ticket balancing. If the Democrats are to win this year, the logic runs, their best shot may be a pair of unalloyed New Deal Democrats, making the alternative to Reagan stark.

Cuomo is not trendy. As the Governor himself proudly acknowledges in his recently published and thoughtful Diaries, he takes his Roman Catholicism, his family and his responsibilities to society very seriously. He has been deeply influenced by the thought of Jesuit Philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. His son Andrew, 26, is one of his closest aides. For a politician, Cuomo displays unusual ambivalence, even anguish, about some issues. Yet he can show hard-edged political courage as well. He has twice vetoed bills to re-establish the death penalty, even though a large majority of New Yorkers say they want the electric chair switched on again.

Cuomo, in office for less than two years, is still mainly untested. He did, during his first month, deftly resolve a 53-hour cell-block takeover by inmates at Sing Sing. He was an early and important Mondale supporter, but he seems authentically reluctant to run, and has unequivocally promised to serve out his gubernatorial term. His chief aide, Tim Russert, does not dance around the issue coyly. "I know him very, very well," says Russert. "He won't do it."

If recent history is a guide, Cuomo is a darker horse than the others. Spiro Agnew was the only sitting Governor nominated for Vice President by either party during the past generation, and every winning ticket since 1952, Republican or Democratic, has included a Southern or Western candidate. The safe, conventional choices are plain. But with a popular incumbent in the White House, this might be just the year to make a jolting break with custom.

--By Kurt Andersen.

Reported by Hays Gorey/Washington and David S. Jackson/Houston, with other bureaus

With reporting by Hays Gorey, David S. Jackson