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Bland ambition
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May 15, 2000 | "I have a great deal of respect for Tom Ridge," says Ed Rendell, former two-term mayor of Philadelphia and chairman of the Democratic National Committee. "We had a good working relationship and I think he's a good, strong leader, though I disagreed with him on some social policies. "But I think he'd be an excellent candidate; the Republicans would be hard-pressed to find a better one."
On April 26, Bush named Dick Cheney, former defense secretary in the Bush White House, to write up the short list of potential No. 2s. Now that the individuals who would seem to actually attract swing voters -- Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and former Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Colin Powell -- have removed themselves from consideration, the list seems to be broadening to include Elizabeth Dole, New York Gov. George Pataki, New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman and several other serious contenders. But Ridge seems to be at the top, at least as far as pundits and various political observers have it. "I think he's No. 1 on the short list," says William Kristol, editor and publisher of the conservative Weekly Standard, who has had several conversations with "people reasonably close to Bush" about who Bush will pick as his nominee for vice president. "I think Bush would like to pick Ridge, but I think they're worried about a pro-life revolt and giving [the issue] to [Pat] Buchanan." But his abortion stance aside, there are plenty in Pennsylvania right now grumbling about other, more substantial reasons the rest of the country should view Ridge warily. Predictably, many of these individuals are Democratic officials, and Ridge's team sees clear partisan reasons for this campaign. "If Tom Ridge is on the ticket, the Democrats in Harrisburg know they have no chance of winning back the Statehouse," says Ridge spokesman Tim Reeves. "That's what this is about." They're not all Democrats, though. State Rep. John Lawless -- a pro-life conservative Republican from outside Philadelphia -- notes that "we've had six years of a great economy. I mean, I'm not ready to be governor, but I probably could have run the state, too. He's had a great ride on the economy, all these guys have. "Who isn't a good governor today?" Lawless says. "Who isn't a good president today?" He's received great press as a member of Bush's short-list for veep, but the question -- raised by naysayers and also his own, at best, modest record during a period of unparalleled prosperity in his state -- is whether the idea of Tom Ridge may be better than the reality. So who is Tom Ridge, really? A perfect GOP V.P., or just a common hack with good P.R. and great luck? Governor of a populous, electoral-rich, rust-belt state, Ridge was also on the short list for V.P. in 1996 for Bob Dole, and it's no wonder. In addition to having a pleasing mien, Ridge embodies, in the estimation of Philadelphia Daily News political scribe John Baer, "the great American story." Born with impaired hearing in a Pittsburgh steel town, Ridge was raised in veterans' public housing by a mother and a father working two jobs, after which he earned a scholarship to Harvard. After his first year of law school, he was drafted into the Army. In Vietnam, Ridge served as an infantry staff sergeant and was awarded the Bronze Star for Valor, the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry and the Combat Infantry Badge. After finishing his law degree in 1972, Ridge served as an assistant district attorney in Erie County, and won election to the U.S. House in 1982 from a swing district, where he was a voice of moderation. He campaigned for governor in 1994 on a typical GOP gubernatorial platform: school choice, welfare reform, privatization, cutting taxes, cleaning up the state capital, reforming workers compensation and tough crime rhetoric. It worked, and he won by 3 percentage points. He became popular, but not wildly so, because his approval rating seems rooted in little more than his pleasant nature. "It's because of way he conducts himself," says Baer. "He's one of those rare politicians that is seemingly unflappable. Plus, he's a genuinely nice guy." "I don't know that people are wildly enthusiastic about Ridge," says Pennsylvania political observer Terry Madonna of Millersville State University, who nonetheless gives Ridge's tenure positive marks. Even predictably negative foes aren't exactly damning. "I'd give him about a C-minus," says State Rep. Mike Veon, Democratic whip. "He gets good marks for producing, like P.T. Barnum, 'the greatest show on earth.' But like any circus act, it's a lot of smoke and mirrors." And, according to Lawless, Ridge is a "nice guy" and a "bright man" who is simply too "corporate-driven." Even a top Pennsylvania House Democratic aide has little nasty to say about Ridge. He isn't such a bad guy, the staffer says, it's just that "his whole tenure has been a blown opportunity," assessed the aide. "He's got a pretty amazing public relations machine out there, and he is a well-liked guy, but he hasn't done much." The case should not be overstated -- few argue that Ridge is evil, or even incompetent. Certainly, in comparison with typical Harrisburg fare, Ridge comes out smelling like a rose. "What we've been used to is damage," says Baer. "And what Ridge has been able to do is sort of prevent any damage. The state seems to be OK." This has helped Ridge in more direct comparisons -- the electoral kind. His opponents in 1994 and 1998 were ludicrous Democratic hacks; the choice of Ridge was a difficult one to condemn. Generally, critics allow, he's a nice guy and completely benign personally. But benign is not, of course, the same thing as good. Ridge spokesman Tim Reeves argues that since January 1995, more than 250,000 new jobs have come into the state, which he says is largely due to Ridge's ability to build a better business climate by slashing around $4 billion in business taxes. "You can't be for jobs and against business," Reeves says, "and you can't be for business and against competitive business taxes." But objective observers say that Ridge overstates his own case. "If the economy were bad, his approval ratings would be substantially lower," says Madonna, who watches poll numbers like others watch the stock market. "He has had a set of fortuitous circumstances, the likes of which have never before been seen in Pennsylvania politics. He's the first governor in modern Pennsylvania history to inherit hundreds of millions of dollars in budget surpluses." Ridge has also benefited from having had a GOP-controlled state Senate and General Assembly run by, in Madonna's words, "an extraordinarily compliant group of legislators." It's an enviable position for a governor. In a similar situation, Michigan's Republican Gov. John Engler used his resultant bully pulpit to push through a controversial school voucher program. Wisconsin's Tommy Thompson enacted a comprehensive welfare-to-work package. New York's George Pataki even went out on a limb and embraced a number of gun-safety measures, incurring the wrath of the National Rifle Association, and worked closely with the Democrat-controlled Legislature on health care. And what's Tom Ridge done in the same situation? As Ridge spokesman Reeves -- a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporter turned self-described "hopeless sycophant" -- correctly states, "What he's done is exactly what he said he would do. Whether or not you agree with the results, no one's argument should be that they're surprised."
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