Amid buzz that he would make an attractive vice-presidential candidate on the GOP ticket, Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) talks to reporters on Capitol Hill on May 10. | M. Scott Mahaskey/POLITICO GOP insiders: Bob Corker a good VP pick for Trump

Republican insiders are buzzing about Sen. Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as an attractive, plausible vice-presidential pick for Donald Trump.

Last week, the Tennessee Republican told USA Today’s Mary Troyan that he “offered to help Donald Trump develop a foreign policy platform, making him one of the few senators to publicly embrace Trump … Trump called him last week and he and Trump’s campaign staff have talked since then.”


Corker, among the wealthiest members of Congress, spent most of his life in business, and his bio says he brings a “results-driven businessman’s perspective.” Corker — age 63, to Trump’s 69 — surprised many in Washington by lavishing on-camera praise on Trump’s foreign-policy speech two weeks ago.

A Republican who knows Corker well said: “He’s an independent guy — kind of a tough guy — who’s not afraid to swim upstream. He’s frustrated by being in the Senate and not getting anything done. I think he’d really lean into this. He’s not afraid to buck the old guard. And he’s no dummy: He jumped out on the Trump thing early.”

Another source said: “Corker is not well-liked by his colleagues in the Senate. A big reason is he likes to get stuff done with Democrats. Trump might find that attractive.”

Trump, who has said he plans to pick an experienced politician who knows the Hill and can help him get things done, dropped a potentially significant clue in his March 31 interview with The Washington Post’s Bob Woodward and Bob Costa: “Somebody that can walk into the Senate and who’s been friendly with these guys for 25 years, and people for 25 years.”

One current officeholder who is also mentioned as a possible running mate, who has served in the House and Senate, and first came to the Hill 35 years ago, is Sen. Dan Coats of Indiana, age 72. He’s an Army veteran who served in the House for eight years and the Senate for 10, then was George W. Bush’s ambassador to Germany (arriving just before 9/11). Coats promoted faith-based initiatives on the outside, then in 2011 returned to the Senate, where he’s on the finance and intelligence committees.

Of course, Trump has a special place in his heart for the Hoosier state. And a longtime friend said of Coats: “He’s beloved. The man has no enemies. Everyone loves him. He’s a governing choice. Clean as a whistle.”

Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, 55, who gets mentioned around town as a veep pick, said in March that he’d support the nominee. Thune reiterated that support last week in an interview with KSFY, the ABC station in Sioux Falls, but said he hopes Trump will mature as a candidate:

“I think there are a lot of things, in terms of what he’s said and how he’s said them, that he’s going to have to demonstrate that he can improve upon and that he can be a candidate that actually is true to Republican principles. ... I’m hopeful, over time — and we’ll see in the weeks and months ahead — that Donald Trump can become that kind of person.”

One more possible vice presidential candidate also seems likely: Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, who’s a favorite of the Koch brothers and served 12 years in the House, with a stint as chair of the House Republican Conference.

Pence, 56, who says he “achieved the largest state tax cut in Indiana history,” voted for Ted Cruz but then endorsed Trump, which makes him a great bridge. “It would symbolically make a statement to the reform segment of the party,” a top GOP-er said. A source said Pence, who’s running for reelection, has received vetting overtures from Trump Tower.

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