Washington – Sen. Ken Salazar isn’t seeking the job of vice president, he says. Then again, he isn’t ruling it out.
“I love being a U.S. senator,” the first-term Colorado Democrat said when asked about the possibility of his making a short list of vice presidential candidates, an idea raised Sunday on NBC’s “Chris Matthews Show.”
Asked whether he’d reject a nomination, Salazar said, “Never say never. Who knows what will happen in one’s life around the corner?
“I’m not actively seeking anything,” he added.
On his Sunday Washington politics show, Matthews said Salazar’s name surfaced when he asked program panelists – all veteran journalists – who would make the best running mate for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton should she win the Democratic presidential nomination.
“Who would Hillary pick?” Matthews said on the show. “This one’s all over the map: Four say (Illinois Sen.) Barack Obama, three say Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh, … two say (former North Carolina Sen.) John Edwards, and two say New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.
“In fact, there’s one vote there for Sen. Ken Salazar of Colorado,” Matthews added.
The show doesn’t reveal which panelist casts which vote in the recurring survey, known as the “Matthews Meter.”
Talk of Salazar as a vice presidential candidate started as early as 2004, when he was running for his Senate seat.
The political journal National Review, in an article about the Senate race, said that if Salazar won that year, “he may find his way onto veep lists for Democrats in 2008.”
Observers note that Salazar is a moderate Democrat and Latino from a state and region that could be up for grabs in the 2008 election.
“You’d have to say it’s a significant possibility, absolutely,” said Norman Ornstein, a scholar with the American Enterprise Institute think tank.
“He may not be the most crackling personality we’ve ever seen, but he is a respected legislator,” despite his short track record, Ornstein said.
Denver Post researcher Regina Avila contibuted to this story.
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