Republican senator Hagel says he'd consider VP offer from Obama

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
A Republican senator said Friday he would consider being Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's running mate if asked - an unusual offer in a country where politicians do not cross party lines for such a high-profile position. However, Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican, said he doesn't expect to be on any ticket. "If it would occur, I would have to think about it," Hagel said. "I think anybody, anybody would have to consider it. Doesn't mean you'd do it, doesn't mean you'd accept it, could be too many gaps there, but you'd have to consider it, I mean, it's the only thing you could do. Why wouldn't you?" In a book published this year, Hagel said that despite holding one of the Senate's strongest records of support for US President George W. Bush, his standing as a Republican has been called into question because of his opposition to what he deems "a reckless foreign policy ... that is divorced from a strategic context."