Michael Smerconish: FOR VEEP: THE KEYSTONE CONNECTION

By Michael Smerconish
Philadelphia Daily News

Daily News Opinion Columnist

ARLEN Specter tells a great story about a conversation he had with Frank Rizzo in the early '70s.

Specter was Philadelphia's hard-charging D.A. and Rizzo was mayor. Rizzo thought they'd make a dream ticket for the White House. In vintage Rizzo style, he believed the two offered perfect balance: Rizzo was Italian, Specter Jewish. Rizzo a Democrat, Specter a Republican. Rizzo from South Philly, Specter from East Falls!

Three decades later, a Philly guy on the ticket is no laughing matter. There's a case to be made for Hillary Clinton tapping Gov. Rendell. Tom Ridge, from the opposite end of the state, may have just what John McCain needs. Either would enhance his party's ticket.

I don't buy the rap that Ridge is unsuitably pro-choice. No pro-life voter will abandon John McCain, or stay home, when the alternative is Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. McCain has proved himself to be pro-life, and has offered the right words about appointing strict constructionists to the Supreme Court. That will earn him the pro-life vote even if some of it is kicking and screaming on other issues. (Then on the anniversary of Roe, he, too, can speak to the protesters at the steps of the Supreme Court - via phone, of course.)

More important to a McCain victory will be his appeal to moderates and independents. Tom Ridge can help. He's from central casting: Handsome, Harvard-educated, Vietnam vet, member of Congress, governor, the first secretary of Homeland Security. On paper, he's superior to either of the Democrats.

McCain and Ridge both served in Vietnam, but Ridge looks even more youthful than the decade that separates them. That's important when "change" is the buzzword.

Ridge also accentuates McCain's best campaign argument - experience. The Democrats would rue the day they raised the issue of who best to answer the red phone at 3 a.m. if McCain and Ridge join forces.

The geographical balance Ridge would bring could give the GOP a shot at something it hasn't done since '88 - win Pennsylvania in a presidential contest, a key step on the road to the White House.

Rendell would lend Hillary - or Obama - the same presence needed to carry the Keystone State. Geographically, he doesn't do much to balance the ticket for Clinton, but ideologically he'd be an asset. He's a moderate compared to both contenders.

Rendell was the D.A. before he became mayor of Philadelphia. A pro-death-penalty (he has signed 78 death warrants as governor and been a steadfast supporter of Maureen Faulkner), law-and-order guy would look good for a party fending off criticisms that it's too limp-wristed.

RENDELL, unlike Clinton or Obama, has been an executive, the original America's Mayor, a moniker he got from Al Gore, and was synonymous with competence before Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg competed for the mantle. Now he's chief exec of Pennsylvania. Voters seem to appreciate governors - four of our last five presidents held that office. Hillary and Obama haven't, Rendell does.

He's also the consummate campaigner and fundraiser with a nationwide network, serving as general chairman of the Democratic National Committee during the 2000 presidential election.

Rendell recently declared himself a liability as a running mate because of his inability to keep his mouth shut, but I say that's a plus, not necessarily a minus. *

Listen to Michael Smerconish weekdays 5-9 a.m. on the Big Talker, 1210/AM. Read him Sundays in the Inquirer. Contact him via the Web at www.mastalk.com.