Is Ducey waiting to be Pence’s VP pick?

I hear from a lot of people concerned with the awful COVID-19 surge and other problems facing Arizona who ask me why Gov. Doug Ducey isn’t doing something.

I tell them: He is.

Ducey, in his muted midwestern way, is biding his time.

Inaction is his action.

The governor is clearly unwilling to risk political fallout from the anti-vaccine pro-conspiracy base of the Republican Party if he tried to save the lives of the citizens he swore an oath to protect.

Given that, he seems to have decided to quietly wait out his term as governor so as not to ruin his chances of rising to the next level of GOP leadership as … vice president.

Earlier this year Ducey signed on as member of the advisory board of former Vice President Mike Pence’s Advancing American Freedom Organization, a political operation meant to be a launching pad for a possible presidential run by Pence.

Ducey and Pence are pals.

The governor and his wife have stayed at the vice president’s official residence when Pence had the job.

Perhaps they measured for new curtains.

When Ducey joined Pence’s new group he tweeted:

Incredibly honored to serve as an advisor to former VP Mike Pence’s new organization, Advancing American Freedom. More than ever, we need to prioritize policies that advance liberty, security & economic growth. Thank you @Mike_Pence for your leadership & service!

Around that time, Kirk Adams, Ducey’s former chief of staff, told The Arizona Republic’s Yvonne Wingett Sanchez, “Mike Pence has a very easygoing personality, he’s very easy to get along with and he puts on no airs. Their two personalities, in my view, are very similar. They just kind of click. They get each other. … They’re nice to people around them, they’re nice to staff. They’re not jerks, they’re not known to be jerks by anybody who runs in their circles.”

Another thing that binds Pence and Ducey together is that former President Donald Trump hates them both.

Pence would not block certification of the electoral college votes, as Trump wanted him to do. This led some of the rioters at the Jan. 6 insurrection to chant, “Hang Mike Pence.”

And Trump, for his part, continues to berate Pence, saying recently, “I think Mike has been very badly hurt by what took place in respect to January 6. I think he’s been mortally wounded, frankly, because I see the reaction he’s getting from people.”

Likewise, Trump also dismisses Ducey for certifying Arizona’s election. He seems to relish every opportunity to take a shot at the governor. Like the statement he issued last summer when Ducey said he wasn’t interested in running for the U.S. Senate.

Trump said, “Good news! RINO (Republican In Name Only) Governor Doug Ducey of Arizona has restated the fact that he is not running for the United States Senate. It would not matter, however, because he could not get the nomination after failing to perform on the Voter Fraud in Arizona. Also, there is no way he would get my endorsement, which means, his aspirations would be permanently put to rest anyway.”

Lying low, maybe. Muted, for sure. But put to rest?

I don’t think so.