Elder Bush Considered Clint Eastwood for VP

Instead, he picked Dan Quayle
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 14, 2011 4:39 PM CDT
George HW Bush Considered Picking Clint Eastwood as Vice President in 1988
Clint Eastwood arrives at the 63rd annual DGA Awards on Saturday Jan. 29, 2011, in Los Angeles.   (AP Photo/Matt Sayles)

Vice President Clint Eastwood? It was at least a possibility in 1988 when George HW Bush was considering running mates, reports the Note blog at ABC News. Two factors helped: Eastwood at the time was the Republican mayor of Carmel, California, and Bush was getting clobbered in the polls by Michael Dukakis. Eastwood's name got raised "in not an altogether unserious" manner, recalls former campaign chief and Secretary of State James Baker.

“Anyway, it was shot down pretty quick," he says. "But we were looking at an 18-point deficit.” Bush picked Dan Quayle instead. (More Clint Eastwood stories.)

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