KINDER'S COMMENTARY: ASHCROFT HAS CREDENTIALS TO BE ON LIST

It's that time during a Leap Year for the Great Mentioners to do lots of Mentioning of possible Republican vice presidential candidates.

Peruse the list of potential GOP vice presidential nominees and you'll come across the familiar names of midwestern Republican governors: Michigan's John Engler, Ohio's George Voinovich and Wisconsin's Tommy Thompson, of radical welfare reform fame. Engler and Voinovich are pro-life Catholics from major industrial states with large electoral votes in an election that may well be decided by the Catholic vote. Moreover, the GOP has never won the White House without carrying the Buckeye State. Of the two leaders, however, each has some drawbacks: Voinovich has raised taxes, while Engler, who has cut them a glittering 17 times in five years, didn't qualify for the draft way back when due to his being a couple of pounds overweight. Neither is automatically disqualified, but let's just say that prudent handicappers continue the search.

You'll hear a case made for Colin Powell (whose denials of interest seem genuine), for California Gov. Pete Wilson, for Arizona Sen. John McCain, for Florida Sen. -- Cornelius McGillicuddy -- aka Connie Mack. And, increasingly over the last 60 days, you hear the name of Missouri's junior senator, John David Ashcroft.

Fanciful? Maybe, but perhaps, by a process of elimination, less so each day. And perhaps not as long a shot as was Indiana's junior senator Dan Quayle back in 1988. The Great Mentioners are doing their thing, and John Ashcroft is getting Mentioned. A lot.

In days gone by, when political geography was far more decisive than today, Ashcroft's hailing from a state adjacent to nominee Bob Dole's would have ended speculation. The thinking was that a ticket had to be geographically balanced, the classic instance being the 1960 Democratic ticket of Kennedy (Mass.) & Johnson (Texas). The ensuing 36 years of national media saturation have done plenty to erode the regional cultural distinctions that once dictated such geographical calculations. Thus today it is at least thinkable to nominate two candidates from contiguous states.

After two four-year terms as governor (1985-93), Missourians sent John Ashcroft to the Senate by nearly a 60 percent margin over former Rep. Alan Wheat, now serving as President Bill Clinton's deputy campaign manager. Since his January 1995 arrival in Washington, Ashcroft has consistently turned heads within the Republican Party nationally, as well as within vital constituency groups comprising the new American majority coalition that swept all in its path in the 1994 GOP landslide. He is the strong favorite of the Christian Right, increasingly the backbone of Republican victories and a strengthening force in American life. Check the list of speakers at the national confabs and you'll find Ashcroft on the list of speakers for most of them: the Christian Coalition, the National Rifle Association and GOPAC come immediately to mind. John Ashcroft is, for lots of these folks, their favorite GOP freshman senator.

A winner in his last five statewide races in a tough swing state, John Ashcroft is an upbeat, energetic campaigner with a capacity for laserlike focus. Even his failure during the primary season to hand Dole an early endorsement may work in his favor: With strong conservative credentials and credibility born of sincere communication with Buchanan forces, he would definitely nail down the conservative GOP base without alienating moderates.

Is John Ashcroft the clear choice? Was Dizzy Dean the greatest pitcher ever? No, said ol' Diz, but he was "amongst 'em." So's Ashcroft.

~Peter Kinder is the associate publisher of the Southeast Missourian and a state senator from Cape Girardeau.