Don’t tell Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, the latest Democrat tothrow his hat in the 2008 presidential ring, that his rather dry, unemotional demeanor translates into a charisma deficit.
“There’s different types of charisma,” Vilsack said Tuesday in response to questions from The Examiner. “There is a quiet charisma. People look and say: This guy is genuine, he’s authentic, he’s real, and you know what? He’s a serious guy. And this is a serious time.”
Gesturing toward his wife, Christie, the governor deadpanned: “Besides, I married charisma.”
Indeed, when Christie Vilsack talks about “changing the world a little at a time,” she sounds a bit more passionate than her husband.
“You guys sure the right one is running?” a reporter asked the Vilsacks at a breakfast sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor newspaper.
“It takes more than one, I can tell you that,” Christie Vilsack replied with a laugh.
While her husband may have a just-the-facts style, he has no compunction about criticizing presidential rivals, especially Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
“I don’t think he’s exercising particularly good judgment in suggesting that the answer in Iraq is to add more troops,” said Vilsack, adding that such a move “makes a big mistake even bigger.”
Nor is Vilsack shy about describing senators such McCain as less suited for the presidency than governors such as himself.
“With due respect to Senator McCain, he has never been a governor,” Vilsack said. “He has never had to make specific decisions, like a governor does. And that’s one of the reasons why people, I think, prefer governors, because they know we’ve actually been a chief executive officer.”
But if Vilsack wants to compete against Republicans such as McCain, he must first vanquish fellow Democrats such as New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has begun laying the foundation for a campaign in Iowa but has not yet formally declared candidacy.
“You get past Hillary, you get past anyone, by having better ideas,” Vilsack said. “I’m happy to go up against anybody in a debate, or anybody in a speech, because I think I can convince folks passionately that this country can go in a different direction.”
Vilsack appeared unfazed that Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois has vaulted into the ranks of top-tier candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination.
“I’ve never been in a political race where I’ve been in the top tier when I started — and this is no different,” he said. “I respect everybody who’s thinking about this, but I don’t fear anybody.”
Born and raised in Pittsburgh, the 55-year-old Vilsack is a lawyer who moved to the small town of Mount Pleasant, Iowa, in the 1970s. He was elected governor in 1998 and re-elected in 2002.
