Charlie_Brennan's Blog

Perhaps it doesn’t matter.

Maybe it’s just not significant that Arizona Sen. John McCain selected Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, a political asterisk on the national scene prior to last Friday, as the person to help propel him into the White House when America votes in two months.

Perhaps surprisingly, the first woman to run for the vice presidency on a major ticket doesn’t think it will swing things too much one way or the other.

The selection of Palin will matter “very little,” Geraldine Ferraro told me, as America was gearing up to watch this 44-year-old mother of five deliver the most important speech of her brief political life.

“If you look at it historically, in 1960 Lyndon Johnson added one percent to the ticket,” Ferraro said. “It was an important one percent. It was the state of Texas. And it was such a close race, that John F. Kennedy won the presidency, because of it.”

Twenty-four years later, Ferraro was tabbed by former Vice President Walter Mondale as the woman to break a political glass ceiling that had been in place more than 200 years.

“In 1984. I added eight-tenths of one percent,” Ferraro said. “Now, Fritz was behind by something like 16 points in July. It went dead-even, past the convention, when my nomination was announced. But, when we ended up on Election Day, we ended up with people voting as they always do -- for the top of the ticket. I added eight-tenths of one percent. We were 15 points behind. It made no difference.”

Generally speaking, said Ferraro, who just turned 73 – a year older than McCain, whom she does not consider old -- “In races where they're not close, a vice presidential candidate doesn't mean much, because what ends up happening is, when people go to the polls, they really vote for the top of the ticket. They vote for the person who is going to be president on day one. And that's what they care about.”

Her perspective was largely supported by Joel K. Goldstein, a vice presidential scholar and professor at the St. Louis University School of Law.

However, said Goldstein, the vice presidential pick can swing an election by several points if the person occupying the second slot on the ticket does not seem potentially presidential.

“I think that if people are not comfortable with Governor Palin being somebody who could sit in the Oval Office and lead the country, then I think it could cost Senator McCain -- not only because people will be uncomfortable with having somebody that close to the White House, but also it would reflect unfavorably on Senator McCain's judgment,” said Goldstein.

“If one party chooses someone who is presidential, and the other party chooses someone who is not ready for prime time, I think that it can shift a few percentage points.”

Delaware Sen. Joseph Biden, 65, and a 35-year veteran of the Senate, failed to excite anywhere nearly enough voters nationally in his two campaigns for president, in 1988 and again this year. But I’m not aware that the mere mental picture of Biden in the Oval Office elicits chortles or horror – except from those who would be chilled at the possibility of any Democrat returning there in their lifetimes. So far, there is little in Palin’s biography that speaks obviously of her presidential qualifications, although in terms of the nation’s perceptions of Palin, early reviews of her nomination acceptance speech suggest that she cleared a big hurdle Wednesday night with room to spare.

Ferraro, a member of Sen. Hillary Clinton’s campaign committee until a remark she made about Obama that some perceived as racist led her to resign that post, had kind words for Palin.

“For one thing, I heard her say my name for the first time on national television (Friday) with reference to the campaign, and thanked me, which I thought was very nice,” said Ferraro. “Because, that was the first time that has been done in 24 years.

“And what that did was, it focused attention again, not on me, but on the fact that that campaign did make a difference for a lot of women in the country. So, I was pleased about that.”

And, while Ferraro said she would carry fond memories of her historic but unsuccessful run with Mondale “to the grave,” she added, “I have always said I wish I weren't the only one. And now I’m not the only one. And so now, it's up to her.”

Ferraro added, “If you take a look at this race, you have the first American who is going to go to that White House, if Obama is elected, and pull down the ‘Whites Only’ door to the White House. And, if she - if McCain is elected - she will go there, and pull down the ‘Men Only’ sign from the White House.

“So, no matter which campaign wins, on a broader, different level, you know, America wins. Because, we have once more reduced one more piece of discrimination against a set part of our electorate.”