Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said today that he does not consider himself a likely candidate to be on presumed Republican presidential nominee John McCain’s short list for a running mate because he is still on hurricane duty, and he said the Arizona senator ought to wait until it is clear whom his opponent will be before picking a vice presidential nominee.
Mr. Barbour, in an interview with editors and reporters at The Washington Times, also said he disagreed with Mr. McCain´s condemnation of the North Carolina Republican Party, which is vowing to run a television commercial attacking two Democratic gubernatorial candidates who have endorsed Sen. Barack Obama´s presidential bid. The ad uses some of the inflammatory racial rhetoric from the senator´s former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr.
Mr. Barbour, a high-powered Washington lobbyist before he became governor, said he did not think Mr. McCain would want a lobbyist on the ticket and said the Republican Party is virtually guaranteed to carry his state anyway.
“First, we’re not even through what we’ve got to do in Mississippi in the next few months. Secondly, those people who think McCain’s got to choose a conservative running mate early to get the base straight, I don’t think that’s right,” he said. “I think what McCain ought to do is wait until the summer, maybe until after the Democratic convention, to make a decision. See what the other side does. We have that luxury.”
Washington Times
4/30/8
Magnolia Tribune
