After Al Gore had become the presumptive Democratic nominee for president in 2000 – and before he settled on Joe Lieberman as his running mate — there was some discussion of Bob Menendez as a potential candidate for the vice presidency.
House Minority Whip David Bonior publicly floated a Gore/Menendez ticket.
“Mr. Bonior feels Congressman Menendez should be someone considered on the shortlist,” said Fred Clark, a spokesman for the House minority whip, told PoliticsNJ in March 2000, after Bonior met with Gore. “He can do a lot toward winning states like Florida, New Jersey, and California.”
Roll Call had first reported Bonior’s trial balloon.
Menendez would not rule out taking a spot on the national ticket, saying that a Latino vice presidential candidate would be helpful to Democrats. He mentioned Bill Richardson, then the U.S. Secretary of Energy, as a potential candidate.
At the time, Menendez was a 46-year-old four-term congressman from Hudson County who had begun his ascent in the House leadership as vice chair of the Democratic Caucus.
Miguel Perez, then a Bergen Record columnist, reported that “the rumors about the vice presidency ran up and down Bergenline Avenue.”
“It gave many Latinos goosebumps – from pride,” Perez wrote. “And it gave many Cuban Americans reason to daydream in public.”
Perez recounted what one elderly Cuban-American told him at a local restaurant.
“Can you imagine Menendez as vice president?” the man asked. “If the American people elected a Cuban vice president, the dictatorship would be over because Fidel (Castro) would die of a heart attack.”
After a debate between Gore and Bill Bradley in Iowa in January 2000, Menendez was there to spin for the vice president. He spoke of Gore’s support for the Hispanic community.
“When you really need your friend is a moment of need,” Menendez said. “In good times, it’s easy to have anybody.”
Menendez for Vice President only made it to the speculation phase, and Gore picked Lieberman, the senator from Connecticut, as his running mate.
In November, Gore lost Florida — and the presidency — by 537 votes out of more than 5.8 million cast.
Would Menendez on the ticket have changed the election results in Florida?
Miami pollster Sergio Bendixen said that Bill Clinton received 35% of the Cuban-American vote in 1996, but Gore won less than 20%. He blamed the Justice Department’s decision to return six-year-old Elián Gonzalez to Cuba — a move Menendez fought.
Gore later narrowed his short list to U.S. Senators Evan Bayh, John Edwards, Tom Harkin, John Kerry, Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, and Lieberman.