Chatter over Hutchison as possible VP pick gets louder
By Julie Mason

CRAWFORD -- Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's long-shot prospect for vice president is getting a push from conservative and other pundits in the lead-up to next week's Republican National Convention.

The latest flurry of speculation online and on cable television constitutes at least a third or fourth wave of chatter about Hutchison, whose name surfaces occasionally as a possible Republican vice-presidential candidate.

Hutchison, a delegate to next week's convention, will address the gathering in Minneapolis-St. Paul on the subject of energy independence on Sept. 3, her office announced Tuesday.

The speaker slot would seem to douse the veep-talk, but no one would say for sure. A spokesman for Hutchison declined to comment, and the McCain campaign did not return a call about McCain's colleague from Texas.

"She is female, which addresses the novelty of the opposition; she is smart and well-respected; she is knowledgeable on key issues, especially domestic policy," said Bruce Buchanan, a University of Texas at Austin government professor. "I still think it's going to be Mitt Romney."

Announcement expected
McCain, the Arizona senator and presumptive Republican nominee, is expected to announce his choice for vice president at the end of the week.

Hutchison, 66, would be "an excellent choice," syndicated husband-and-wife columnists Dick Morris and Eileen McGann said in a piece that catalyzed renewed speculation on the subject.

"She's been around for decades and is not going to start making mistakes now," they wrote. "Her nomination would be a signal to American women that McCain takes their aspirations seriously, even if Obama does not. Hutchison is not charismatic. But her circumstances would be if she were nominated. The prospect of a woman vice president would electrify women throughout the nation."

Hutchison has served in the Senate since a 1993 special election.

She has said she will not seek re-election in 2012, and is expected to step down before then, for a likely run in the 2010 governor's race.

Houston Republican political consultant Allen Blakemore, who has worked for Hutchison in the past, noted she just scheduled an Oct. 1 campaign event for County Judge Ed Emmett's re-election bid, and said a veep spot seems unlikely.

"She has clearly set her sights on governor and looks at that as the way she wants to complete her long and distinguished career of public service," Blakemore said.

Earlier this week on CNN, Republican strategist Ed Rollins touted Hutchison as "well respected" and a name McCain should consider.

The short odds for McCain's vice-presidential picks include Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, former White House budget official Rob Portman of Ohio and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

"The conservatives could probably stomach (Hutchison) a lot better than a Tom Ridge or Joe Lieberman," said University of Houston political scientist Richard Murray. "She is a woman and their strategy seems to be to go for disaffected Clinton voters. But I would say this is more like the Chet Edwards boomlet -- it raises the profile, there is no downside to being mentioned, but Hutchison at this point looks like a last-minute ploy, not a considered judgment."

Another look at Hutchison

In his online column for the conservative TownHall.com, Michael Medved argued that McCain should reject the Pawlenty-Portman-Romney types as too safe and take another look at Hutchison.