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Second-Chairing the White House, Part II: The GOP Version

By Dan Slater

All this news of the Bear indictment has taken us away from our more, uh, speculative reporting. So let’s get back to the excellent graphic, put together yesterday by our colleagues on the politics desk, that lays out 26 possible vice presidents for both an Obama and a McCain administration. Yesterday, we were pleased to note that, of the Democrats, nine of the 14 have law degrees. Today, we’re equally pleased to see that, of the Republicans, six of the twelve carry JD’s. Again, with a little crack research, herewith are the Republican possibilities for vice president, filtered through the LB lens:

Charlie Crist (Florida State, Cumberland Law): Long before politics, and before serving as Florida’s AG, Crist, 51, who’s currently governor of Florida, was an athlete and a sports lawyer. Makes sense, we suppose. Prior to that — before transferring to FSU for undergrad — he was the starting quarterback at Wake Forest. After law school, Crist became the GC for the minor league division of the Baseball Commissioner’s Office. Crist later began his official government service as state director for U.S. Senator Connie Mack, and then returned to private practice at Tampa’s Wood and Crist. Here’s his Web site.

Kaye Bailey Hutchison (U. of Texas, UT Law): As Senator Hutchison’s site says, her Texas roots run deep. “Thomas Rusk of Nacogdoches was the first Texan to hold the U.S. Senate seat she currently occupies,” the site informs us. “He and Senator Hutchison’s great-great-grandfather, Charles S. Taylor, were friends and both signed the Texas Declaration of Independence.” We couldn’t find much about her law career, but in 2000, Hutchison, 64, co-authored “Nine and Counting: The Women of the Senate,” and in 2004, she released her second book, American Heroines: The Spirited Women Who Shaped Our Country.” Most recently, she pub’d “Leading Ladies: American Trailblazers.”

Joe Lieberman (Yale, Yale Law): He didn’t make it as a Democrat… Will he try the Republican route to the White House? Lieberman, 66, the Senator from Connecticut, was quickly elected to the state senate at age 28 and served there for 10 years. In 1980, according to his site, he returned to private practice for two years, and served as Connecticut’s 21st AG from 1983 to 1988. As AG, according to his bio, he took on polluters of CT’s environment, went after deadbeat dads by strengthening child support enforcement, and earned a strong reputation as a defender of consumers’ rights.

Tim Pawlenty (U. of Minnesota, U. of Minnesota Law): Pawlenty, 47, now governor of Minnesota, was the only child in his family to graduate from college. After a brief stint in private practice, he became a criminal prosecutor and then jumped into state politics. Here’s his site.

Tom Ridge (Harvard, Dickinson Law): Ridge, 62, made his name in the weeks after 9/11 when President Bush swore him in as the first Office of Homeland Security Adviser. But his public service actually began during law school. He left Dickinson after the first year when he was drafted into Vietnam, picking up a Bronze Star for Valor before returning to the law books. After school, Ridge worked in private practice before becoming an assistant DA in Erie County. Now Ridge, the onetime governor of Pennsylvania, is the founder and CEO of Ridge Global, a strategic consulting firm in D.C.

Mitt Romney (Brigham Young, Harvard Law): The one-time presidential candidate could get a shot at the White House through the back-door. But for all the respect we’ve got for Mitt — the JD/MBA, private equity guru, co-founder of Bain Capital and former Mass. Governor — we’re sort of disappointed that, at least to our knowledge, he never practiced law!

LBers, anyone else we might be missing from the esteemed list?

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on June 19, 2008 (boomark / email).