Re: Joe LIEberman jockeying to be McCain's VP.

June 12, 2004

McCain Is Said to Tell Kerry He Won't Join

By DAVID M. HALBFINGER

WASHINGTON, June 11 -- John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic nominee

for president, has repeatedly and personally asked Senator John

McCain, the independent-minded Arizona Republican, to consider being

his running mate, but Mr. McCain has refused, people who have spoken

to both men said Friday.

Mr. Kerry, the Massachusetts senator, made his first direct overtures

to Mr. McCain about three weeks after locking up the Democratic

nomination in March and approached him again, in person or by

telephone, as many as seven times, as recently as last week, according

to one person who has discussed the issue with both.

"It was always artfully phrased, but he asked him on several occasions

to serve as his running mate," the individual said. "He'd say, `I

don't want to formally ask because I don't want to be formally

rejected, but having said that, would you do it?' or `I need you to do

it,' or `I want you to do it.' "

"It was always phrased in such a way as to give both men plausible

deniability," the individual added.

Neither Mr. McCain nor Mr. Kerry could be reached for comment on the

rare cross-party running mate discussions. Stephanie Cutter, Mr.

Kerry's communications director, said, "Senator Kerry and Senator

McCain are good friends and have spoken during the course of the

campaign, including when Kerry called McCain to thank him for standing

up and defending Kerry against baseless political attacks."

Aides to Mr. McCain did not return repeated phone calls on Friday; his

chief of staff, Mark Salter, told the Associated Press, which first

reported the discussions, that "Senator McCain categorically states

that he has not been offered the vice presidency by anyone."

Less than a month ago, Mr. McCain denied having even casual

discussions with Mr. Kerry on the subject.

Word of Mr. Kerry's personal entreaties, and Mr. McCain's flat

refusal, may bring an end to the persistent, and at times fevered,

speculation among Democrats and others about the potential of a

bipartisan ticket, with the two friends and Vietnam veterans matching

up against President Bush and Vice President Cheney, neither of whom

fought in that war.

Mr. McCain's testy relationship with President Bush, whom he ran

against in 2000 for the Republican nomination, fueled the speculation,

even though Mr. McCain has repeatedly denied being interested in the

job. He said as recently as last week on a late-night television show

made clear his lack of enthusiasm about being No. 2, "I spent several

years in a North Vietnamese prison camp, in the dark, fed with scraps.

Do you think I want to do that all over again as vice president of the

United States?"

But his denials did not stop prominent members of Congress - including

Senator Bill Nelson of Florida, himself considered a potential Kerry

running mate - from suggesting that a Kerry-McCain ticket would be

unstoppable in the fall. Mr. McCain showed in 2000 that he could draw

Independent voters. A CBS News poll recently found that a Kerry-McCain

ticket had a 14-percentage-point edge over Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney

among registered voters, 53 percent to 39 percent, compared to most

head-to-head polls that show Mr. Kerry alone tied or slightly ahead of

Mr. Bush.

Some Democrats have warned it recent days that the talk about McCain

threatened to make whomever Mr. Kerry did select look unexciting by

comparison. Among the many potential running mates, those mentioned

most frequently include Senator John Edwards of North Carolina,

Representative Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri and Gov. Tom Vilsack of

Iowa. Indeed, the person who has spoken to both Mr. Kerry and McCain

said he believed Mr. Kerry's campaign had deliberately leaked the

story on Friday afternoon so it would be lost in coverage of Ronald

Reagan's funeral and in the thinly read Saturday newspapers.

A friend of both men said Mr. McCain's rejection of the idea came down

simply to his disinterest in being vice president, no matter who is in

the White House.

"Kerry and McCain have been close for some time, for years, and there

is a comfort level between them," this friend said. "But remember, the

first responsibility of a vice president is to be ready to be

president, the second is to be comfortable with the president, the

third is to know your place. One and two work for McCain, but three

doesn't. And I think John McCain knows that he could not be vice

president to anyone, whether it be John Kerry or a Republican."

The person who has spoken to both men gave a slightly different reason

for Mr. McCain's refusal to consider the job: "At the end of the day,

he's a Republican, he supports President Bush's re-election, and while

he and John Kerry agree on some major issues, they disagree on more

than they agree," the person said. "But the first two of those are

more important than the last."

Mr. McCain and Mr. Kerry's relationship began as an acid one; the

Arizona senator, a Navy bomber pilot who spent more than five years as

a prisoner of war in Hanoi, was outraged by the antiwar activities of

Mr. Kerry, a Navy Swift boat commander who famously led protesting

veterans in throwing their medals away in 1971.

Mr. McCain campaigned against Mr. Kerry in his first race in 1984, but

the two men made peace and worked together during the Clinton

administration to resolve the fates of American prisoners of war and

service members missing in action, and to normalize American relations

with Vietnam.

On the campaign trail until now, Mr. Kerry has cited his friendship

and collaborative work with Mr. McCain as evidence of his own ability

to reach across the partisan aisle to get things done. He even used

Mr. McCain's image in one of his recent campaign commercials, showing

a picture of the two senators side-by-side.

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