November 03, 2015 01:34 PM UTC

Editorial Department: Cory Gardner for Vice President

• 9 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

Welcome back to the Colorado Pols Editorial Department, where we examine particular blog posts, Op-Eds, editorials, and other opinionated pieces of political writing.

Today, we take a look at Stuart Rothenberg’s “Rothenblog” and the case for Colorado Senator Cory Gardner (R-Yuma) as a potential running mate for Republican Presidential candidate Marco Rubio.

You can read the text of “Cory Gardner for Veep? Don’t Laugh” after the jump. We didn’t include the complete text, and our suggested edits from our Editorial Department appear in bold font. Click after the jump to read more…

Cory Gardner for Veep? Don’t Laugh

Though I took notice of Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner’s endorsement of Sen. Marco Rubio for president, I didn’t immediately think about Gardner as a possible running mate for Rubio — until a CQ Roll Call colleague dropped that pearl of wisdom in my lap. At least, he said it was a pearl.

But there are plenty of reasons why Gardner needs to be on any Rubio shortlist of possible running mates, even this early in the 2016 election cycle. “Plenty” might be a loaded word, but there are probably some reasons. If nothing else, Republican voters really do like white dudes. 

In a party full of elected officials who look and sound angry and bitter, the Colorado Republican invariably is cheerful and optimistic. That doesn’t mean that Gardner is happy with the direction of the country or defends the status quo, but it does mean that he is amiable and approachable. Not surprisingly, that makes him appealing to many voters, particularly those who are less ideological and less partisan. Gardner is a used-car salesman who will tell you anything you want to hear. Gardner could teach Rubio the art of ducking questions by smiling and shaking your head, which is really his singular talent…

…There is no guarantee, of course, that Gardner would help Rubio carry Colorado (Al Gore famously failed to carry his home state in 2000, and Romney lost Wisconsin in 2012, even though Paul D. Ryan was on the ticket), but if the overall race is close enough next year, Gardner might just help the GOP carry his Centennial State. Nevermind that Gardner defeated incumbent Sen. Mark Udall by just two points in 2014 and failed reach 50% of the vote (48% to 46%). 

Gardner’s age is something of a mixed bag, obviously.

The Coloradoan will be 42 when Election Day rolls around, making him three years younger than the 45-year old Rubio. Democrats would surely jump on those two men as too inexperienced and ill-prepared to run the country at a time of such international danger and economic uncertainty. Gardner served his first term in the Colorado House of Representatives in 2006, so he’s almost spent an entire decade doing legislative…stuff.

But Bill Clinton was only 46 when he was elected president in 1992, and his running mate, Al Gore, was 44 — hardly older than a Rubio-Gardner team would be. And Barack Obama, who was 47 when elected, had served less time in the Senate than Rubio will have served when the 2016 election takes place. Those facts would give Republicans easy and effective comebacks to the Democratic — and likely media — criticism. I realize that age and experience are not interchangeable, but how else am I supposed to make this logic work?

In any case, given the public’s continued desire for change and fatigue with candidates of the past, a Republican ticket that is youthful, upbeat and personally appealing — as Clinton-Gore was in 1992 when Democrats made an explicit argument about generational change — may not be such a bad thing. After all, a Rubio-Gardner team would have plenty of opportunity during the campaign to demonstrate their readiness for higher office. Come on, people! Nothing prepares a man to serve as President/Vice President like four months of carefully-orchestrated public appearances.

Both Rubio and Gardner have experience in legislative bodies, but neither has executive experience. It’s difficult to believe that that would be a major problem for most voters. Er, I mean, it’s difficult to believe that that would NOT be a major problem for most voters. 

Neither Obama nor Biden had executive experience before they were elected in 2008, and the same was true for John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Baines Johnson, the previous successful presidential ticket that included two sitting senators. (Unlike the Democrats, the GOP has never offered voters a presidential nominee and his running mate who were both sitting senators.) Sure, LBJ spent 12 years in the Senate proving his leadership skills, but Gardner is way better at smiling and laughing.

Like Rubio, Gardner is conservative, pragmatic and politically savvy. Like Rubio, Gardner also has an ‘r’ in his last name — two of them, even!

In 2011, Gardner received a zero rating from the AFL-CIO and 100 percent from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The next year, he received a 92 percent rating from the American Conservative Union and a 5 percent rating from the liberal Americans for Democratic Action. I don’t know why I’m telling you this, but look at those numbers!

But Gardner successfully avoided the “extreme” label during his Senate bid, in part because he ran an excellent campaign and took steps to blunt anticipated Democratic attacks. (In an end-of-the-year column, I called Gardner the best candidate of 2014.) Just ignore those numbers I wrote previously that might indicate Gardner’s extreme political viewpoints. I told you he was the best!

The Colorado senator’s first TV commercial featured him on a windmill farm (noting that he “co-wrote the law to launch our state’s green energy industry”), and his advocacy of over-the-counter birth control pills helped him blunt the usual Democratic attacks during his Senate race that he was “anti-women.” His first TV commercial was a flat-out lie that was quickly debunked by Colorado media outlets, but get a load of that Gardner grin, will ya? Gardner wrote a Denver Post op-ed supporting the contraceptives proposal in June 2014. We need a Vice President who can hire a communications staff to submit an Op-Ed from time to time.

Gardner, who would not have to give up his Senate seat if he runs on the 2016 ticket, isn’t the only good GOP vice presidential choice, and as a white male, he wouldn’t be an ideal running mate for every 2016 presidential hopeful. But Gardner is perfect for Rubio, because he smiles and laughs at stuff.

The eventual Republican nominee will have plenty to think about in selecting a running mate, and Cory Gardner’s name probably won’t be on the tip of his, or her, tongue. But the Colorado senator has served a combined decade in the Colorado legislature and in Congress, and his assets, and talents, are difficult to ignore. If you combine Gardner’s age with that of his wife and children, you get a number that is nearly 100!