We'll get to know Bush's choice before Al Gore's because the Republican convention comes at the end of July in Philadelphia, and Gore has another two weeks before the Democratic convention in Los Angeles. It is a commonplace assumption within the political crowd that McCain would be the strongest choice Bush could make. But that view is by no means unanimous. McCain is a maverick. It remains to be seen if Bush can feel secure and serene with McCain bouncing around the playing field.
Presidents like to have their vice presidents shut up for long stretches.
And Al Gore's seven long and lean years of apprenticeship under Clinton cemented him in the role of Clinton's understudy. Bush also has to think long and hard about what happens if a Bush-McCain ticket loses to the Democrats. Presidential nominees look at running mates with a whole new set of spectacles. The classic cases of nominees taking bitter foes onto the ticket are JFK and Reagan. Kennedy embraced Lyndon Johnson after being persuaded he needed the Southerner to balance the ticket sufficient to win the Electoral College.