Questions for the Next Vice President

NYT

By CRAIG FULLER, ANDREW SULLIVAN, RADLEY BALKO, MIKE DOOGAN, JEFFREY GOLDBERG, JACK F. MATLOCK Jr. , GENE HEALY, PETER MAASS, PETER W. GALBRAITH, ERIC WASSERSTROM, and RACHEL KLEINFELD

Tonight, Senator Joe Biden of Delaware and Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska will meet in the one and only vice presidential debate of the 2008 campaign. The Op-Ed editors asked people with knowledge of the vice presidency, the candidates and their records to suggest questions they’d like to hear answered from the stage at Washington University in St. Louis this evening.

It is 9 a.m., and the president is traveling abroad. A terrorist attack on the United States occurs. You have 10 minutes to prepare to move to the now famous bunker at the White House to deal with the incident. Whom will you take with you into the bunker? And, once there, what do you do in the first hour?

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You hear all the arguments presented to the president concerning a decision he must make regarding spending for a major national program. The recommendation from the cabinet and staff is clear, but you disagree with them strongly. How and where do you express yourself, assuming you elect to share your views with the president?

— CRAIG FULLER, the chief of staff for Vice President George H. W. Bush from 1985 to 1988

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Senator Biden, do you believe that continued withdrawal of American troops from Iraq will lead to a newly ignited civil war?

Governor Palin, since you were selected as a vice presidential candidate, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has given more press conferences to American reporters than you have. Why do you have less confidence in the American press and people than the president of Iran does? And when will you dare to face the press for real?

— ANDREW SULLIVAN, a blogger for The Atlantic and the author of “The Conservative Soul”

(Continued here.)