Meanwhile, the Beltway crowd is predicting former defense secretary Cheney, a determined but undeclared candidate, as the likely GOP nominee. In a straw Poll at a recent Washington party given by CBS political director Marty Plissner and his wife, PBS producer Susan Morrison, campaign consultants and pundits picked Cheney over (in descending order) former HUD secretary Jack Kemp, South Carolina Gov. Carroll Campbell, former Tennessee governor Lamar Alexander, Sen. Bob Dole-and Baker. Dan Quayle finished last. The partygoers’ record isn’t too good: they called Hubert Humphrey over Gerald Ford in 1975, Ted Kennedy over Ronald Reagan in ‘79 and George Bush over Mario Cuomo in ‘91.
