Clint Eastwood as George H.W. Bush’s VP … It Would Have Made Our Day

It would seem that Presidential candidate George H.W. Bush asked himself in 1988 … “Do I feel Lucky?”

According to senior GHWB officials audio tape interviews released by the University of Virginia’s Miller Center and Bush Presidential Library Foundation, George H.W. Bush considered tapping Hollywood actor Clint Eastwood as his Vice President. Makes one think of, what if.

Vice President Dirty Harry … Make our Day!

“When we were way behind. Honestly, [Eastwood] was suggested in not an altogether unserious – Well, he was a mayor. He was a Republican mayor,”  former Bush campaign chairman and Secretary of State James Baker said.

Eastwood served one term as mayor of the conservative ocean side community Carmel, Calif., from 1986-1988.

AUDIO: James Baker describes consideration of Clint Eastwood

“Anyway, it was shot down pretty quick. But we were looking at an 18-point deficit,” Baker said, suggesting the campaign was looking for a boost from its VP choice. Bush, who also considered Sen. Dan Quayle, R-Ind.; Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan.; Sen. Alan Simpson, R-Wyo.; and Rep. Jack Kemp, R-N.Y., ultimately settled on Quayle.

Quayle was “maybe not the most qualified, but he brings other attributes that are extraordinarily important,” Baker said of his initial reaction to Bush’s choice.

However, for some reason at the end of the day Bush picked Dan Quayle as his running mate. As stated at Fox News Boston, in the summer of 1988, Bush was losing badly in the polls to the Democratic nominee, Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis, and Bush went with Quayle. Of course I hardly think that it was the choice of Quayle that swung the election to a landslide victory. We can only dare to dream what it would have been like with Dirty Harry or the High Plains Drifter as VP.