By John Lindstrom
Publisher
Posted: July 15, 2016 1:45 PM

Indiana’s Governor Mike Pence is now the putative Republican vice presidential candidate, running with putative GOP Presidential nominee Donald Trump. And attention is focused on Virginia U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine (The former Virginia governor) as the vice presidential pick of putative Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

But once the vice presidential speculation train stopped in Lansing.

It was 20 years ago, in the summer of 1996, when then-Republican Governor John Engler was viewed and vetted for the running-mate spot with Republican presidential candidate, then-U.S. Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas.

It was serious speculation, and Mr. Engler was one of several governors being considered for the post. Reports at the time said then-Ohio Governor George Voinovich and then-Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge were among those being considered. Mr. Voinovich was later elected to the U.S. Senate and Mr. Ridge became the first U.S. secretary of Homeland Security following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

The first story Gongwer News Service published on the speculation had Mr. Engler’s spokesperson, John Truscott, saying that to the “best of my knowledge, no one in the Dole campaign has asked for anything,” related to the vice presidency.

He added if there were contacts, they were between the Dole campaign and Mr. Engler.

Now president of Truscott Rossman, Mr. Truscott said at the time in 1996 he was being shielded from some of the Executive Office’s activities, so that he would not have to lie to reporters when asked about the speculation.

He did say documents from Mr. Engler on his background and as part of a security check were provided to the Dole campaign.

In that first story, Mr. Truscott said Mr. Engler was convinced that he would not be chosen for the spot. And in the end former U.S. House member Jack Kemp was chosen as Mr. Dole’s running mate.

And Mr. Truscott said Mr. Engler was always convinced that as a Washington insider, Mr. Dole would not choose a governor for vice president. At that time, Mr. Truscott said, Republican D.C. officials were more comfortable with other D.C. insiders instead of governors, even though then-President Bill Clinton had been a governor and former President Ronald Reagan had been a governor.

Probably the incident in the speculation that drew the most attention, though, was the revelation that Mr. Engler had a draft deferment during the Vietnam War for weight. He was about two pounds over the limit allowed by the U.S. Army.

That drew criticisms from some, including national columnist Mark Shields, who wrote about a person he knew so desperate to get into the service he ran around the building sweating off pounds while the recruiters waited so he could enlist.

Mr. Truscott said he suspected that revelation came from someone in the Dole campaign, someone who did not want Mr. Engler as the vice presidential candidate.

While Mr. Engler was not on the ticket in 1996, there was talk that he would be a top candidate for president in 2000, or at least for vice president.

But Mr. Truscott said at a Republican Governors Association meeting, when all the staff was told to leave the room, Mr. Engler said that if Republicans were going to win back the White House, the next president had to come from that room.

Mr. Truscott said everyone in the room then looked at Texas Governor George W. Bush.