NC Sen. Burr, suggested as possible VP, didn’t go home for Trump rally | McClatchy Washington Bureau

Richard Burr for vice president?

There are more reasons to dismiss the suggestion that he’s on any short list.

For one, North Carolina’s senior Republican U.S. senator planned to skip Donald Trump’s campaign rally in Raleigh on Tuesday, saying he needed to be in Washington to deal with national security matters in light of recent global terror attacks. And while Burr will attend his party’s national convention later this month to greet North Carolina delegates, he’ll be in Cleveland for only a short time.

A campaign spokesperson for Burr told McClatchy on Tuesday that the senator plans to be at the convention for part of the day on July 20.

Still, it makes some sense that Trump would consider Burr:

• He’s a senator with decades of political experience from a swing state.
• He has national security experience as the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
• He’s known for a calm public persona and serious temperament.

And this: Trump has said he wants someone with political and government acumen. So Burr, at least in pundit circles, is in the mix.

“He’s sort of a mystery candidate,” said Timothy Walch, an Iowa-based author and vice presidential expert. “I don’t think there’s any calculated logic to what Trump may do.”

One obstacle is clear: the reverberations back home.

Burr is in a close re-election fight this year with Democrat Deborah Ross, a former American Civil Liberties Union attorney and state representative. If Burr stepped out of that race, it could be a challenge for Republican strategists in North Carolina to quickly find a strong competitor.

But North Carolina law allows Burr’s name to appear on the ballot for both vice president and senator. If he were successful in both races and then vacated his Senate seat to assume the role of vice president, state law allows North Carolina’s governor to appoint a temporary senator until the next statewide election.

Trump has reportedly had serious talks with Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker; Chris Christie, the governor of New Jersey; Mike Pence, the governor of Indiana; and Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa. Burr told McClatchy recently that he hadn’t met with Trump, and he downplayed the VP chatter.

“It’s not something that I’m even remotely concerned about,” he said last month.

Yet he hasn’t publicly squelched the idea.

For example, just a few days after conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt first floated Burr’s name – saying he’d heard from people close to the Trump campaign that Burr was under consideration – the senator defended the nominee’s controversial stance on banning or temporarily restricting Muslims from entering the United States.

He said Trump wasn’t suggesting an all-out ban but instead a “pause” on Muslim refugees or visa-seekers. That comment came when reporters asked Burr to respond to Trump’s repeated call for a ban. At the time, most Republican lawmakers in Congress hedged on their support for Trump’s idea or denounced it altogether.

And Burr is a logical choice.

At age 60, he’s a decade younger than Trump. He has a solid conservative voting record and is well-regarded among colleagues as a team player. He’s careful with the media, and would not distract attention from Trump.

“The standard is do no harm,” said David Rohde, political scientist at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. “I don’t think (Burr) adds much to the ticket. . . . But he doesn’t hurt, either.”

A recent public opinion poll from North Carolina seems to back that up. A potential Trump-Burr pairing doesn’t improve Trump’s odds in the November election, according to Public Policy Polling results from late June. Those poll results – from a polling business with Democratic leanings – show Hillary Clinton and Trump in a close contest in the battleground state. Including Burr’s name didn’t move the needle much.

Burr’s name recognition nationally, and even in his home state, is low. That may surprise some, given Burr’s powerful position on the Intelligence Committee.

Rohde said most voters didn’t follow politics closely and even party leaders in Congress had low familiarity. The average person, he said, doesn’t “have any idea who the chairman is of any committee” in Congress, Burr included.

If history is an indicator, being largely unknown isn’t a deal-breaker.

Past vice presidential choices such as Paul Ryan, the 2012 GOP nominee, and Sarah Palin, the 2008 choice, were largely unknown except to political insiders.

Just being discussed as a potential VP choice, Rohde said, might help Burr. “Usually, it’s desirable to be connected to the presidential candidate of your party,” Rohde said.

But this year, “they see only political damage of being associated with Trump.” And it seems Burr is keeping a healthy distance from Trump – as are many of his colleagues in Congress.

Burr missing Trump’s Raleigh event might be more significant for his re-election effort than for the VP idea.

“The polls are close, even with him as the incumbent candidate,” Rohde said. “He’s not a shoo-in.”