Ridge asserts abortion view no bar to office
But he adds that in a McCain administration, the president's view on the issue would prevail.
CHICAGO - Former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge said yesterday that he thought Republicans would accept a vice presidential candidate who supports abortion rights.
But, he said, whomever Sen. John McCain picks as a running mate should defer to McCain on the issue.
McCain opposes abortion, but he riled some conservatives last week when he suggested his running mate could - like Ridge - support abortion rights.
"What he was saying to the rest of the world is that we need to accept both points of view," Ridge said in a broadcast interview. "He's not judgmental about me or my belief. He just disagrees with me."
With vice presidential picks coming any day now, several possible candidates for the No. 2 spot appeared on the Sunday talk shows.
Sen. Barack Obama will choose soon; the Democratic National Convention, where he and his running mate will be nominated, is a week away.
Obama and his advisers are refusing to talk about the process, leaving his schedule as a source for clues. Today, he plans to visit New Mexico, home of Gov. Bill Richardson, and plans to spend Wednesday and Thursday in Virginia, home of Gov. Tim Kaine.
Both governors were on the shows yesterday, but neither revealed whether he expected to be Obama's choice.
Obama's travels to Virginia and New Mexico don't necessarily mean anything about the vice presidential search; both are swing states that have been getting attention from his campaign.
On Saturday, during a forum at Saddleback Church in California, Obama brought up another potential running mate - former Georgia Sen. Sam Nunn - when asked to name three people he would rely on for counsel as president. Obama listed Nunn after his wife and grandmother.
Ridge is believed to be on McCain's short list of vice presidential candidates, though it would be a major break with Republican orthodoxy for McCain to pick a running mate who supports abortion rights.
"I think that would be up to, first of all, to John to decide whether he wants a pro-choice running mate; then we would have to see how the Republican Party would rally around it," Ridge said. "At the end of the day, I think the Republican Party will be comfortable with whatever choice John makes."
McCain's statement last week was seen as an appeal to centrist voters. Yesterday, Ridge tried to soothe conservatives by stating that McCain's view on the issue would prevail in a McCain administration.
"The last time I checked, the vice president is not an independent voice. He echoes the position of the president of the United States," Ridge said.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said "no window's open" to him being McCain's vice presidential nominee. "He's not going to ask," Jindal said. "I don't want to be vice president."
Ridge was on
Fox News Sunday
. Kaine and Jindal were on NBC's
Meet the Press
.
