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Capitol View®
Tom Scheck

Culvahouse on VP pick

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A.B. Culvahouse, John McCain's VP vetter, talked a little bit about the vetting of VP candidates during a discussion at the Republican National Lawyers Association National Policy Conference about advising presidents and presidential candidates.

Culvahouse said he had 26 people on the "long list." He said they compiled forty to fifty page reports on those candidates but never interviewed them.

Culvahouse said there were "a handful" of candidates on the "short list." He said they interviewed the candidates at that time. They had a 74 questions including "Have you ever been unfaithful?" and "Has anyone ever disserted that you were unfaithful?"

He also said he asked Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin "Why do you want to be vice-president?," "Are you prepared to use nuclear weapons?" and "If Osama Bin Laden is identified by the CIA and they're ready to take a shot even though there could be multiple casualties, do you take the shot?

Culvahouse didn't divulge who else was on the short list (like, ahem, Gov. Pawlenty) but did discuss the decision to pick Sarah Palin.

You can watch the interview here. The VP vetting talk starts at about 33 minutes in...

Side note: Newt Gingrich told Christianity Today that Pawlenty has a great future when asked "Who do you see as the emerging leaders in the Republican Party?"