Sanford gets half page in The Wall Street Journal
By John Temple Ligon

S.C. Governor Mark Sanford,V.P. candidate?

On Saturday, April 19, The Wall Street Journal's

assistant features editor, Brendon Miniter, took more than half the page to cite the aspects of Mark Sanford's character and public profile suitable to be tapped as Sen. John McCain's running mate this fall. McCain says he has a list of about 20 prospects, and he admits Sanford is on the list.

Also on the list are Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts, and Condoleeza Rice, secretary of state in the Bush Administration. The former governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee, can also be considered for a place on the list of prospects, as he was only three points behind McCain in the S.C. Republican primary.

Sanford was quoted by Miniter: "Our system was put in place in large part based on the fear that a black man would be elected governor. So traditional functions of the executive branch were diffused...to mean that if a black man were elected governor, it wouldn't matter anyway because he wouldn't have any responsibility...That is an insane operating model."

Miniter credits Sanford's political record as governor with actions to support "tax cuts, school choice, market- based entitlement reform, and a long list of vetoes handed out to a profligate legislature."

Sanford has been trying to ask the state's education establishment if operating procedures and practices stay the same, how can any differences in results be expected? In public education, even with yearly increases in financial support, the state's results have stayed near the national bottom, including a 50% dropout rate.

Sanford advocates letting the education funding follow the child and help pay for wherever

the child's parents choose a school, a voucher

system of sorts. The idea is not to subsidize failure or even mediocrity but to support a success story.

In another four years, there will be another state Republican primary early in the process, and there's likely to be a challenge to the sitting president, potentially a 75- year- old up for re- election. Sanford's status as a seasoned vice president with four years already on the job could be a big help to McCain.