Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis nominate running mates for 'The Campaign'

In politics, there’s a complex calculus that presidential candidates use when they select their vice-presidential nominees. Mitt Romney is currently going through the process of selecting his Republican running mate, weighing all sorts of tangible and intangible factors: experience, regional ties, photogenic appeal, reads newspapers.

Comedians who play politicians, on the other hand, are bound by no such rules. At last night’s premiere of The Campaign, a comedy starring Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis as rival U.S. Senate candidates, the cast and crew had some outside-the-box ideas for who they would pick to be on their ticket. “I think I’d go with a Kardashian sister just to get the female vote, the popular vote, and the guy vote in one move,” said Ferrell, who plays a corrupt incumbent in the film. “Why pick one? They can rotate. If one of them gets tired or chips a nail, another one can fill in. It would be a rotating running mate system.”

Galifanakis, however, cried foul at his co-star’s hypothetical selection. “He should not give them any mentions; no one should, so that they’ll go away,” he said, clearly confident that his own polling data was superior to Ferrell’s. Instead, The Hangover star pondered deeply for his ideal running mate. “They always try to balance the ticket, by picking [someone] who is the opposite of who they are,” he said. “So using that strategy, I’d pick Penelope Cruz. She is pretty much the opposite of me in all regards.”

Director Jay Roach, who knows a little something about politics after directing HBO’s Recount and Game Change — which dramatized the 2008 selection of Sarah Palin — went with his heart. “I think my wife [Susanna Hoffs] would be a great first lady because she can see the funny in a situation when you really need it,” said Roach. “And she could write our campaign song. I wouldn’t pick Zach or Will. Great guys, very funny, but if either of them actually ran for office, we’d be in serious trouble.”

[Reporting by Carrie Bell]

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