George H.W. Bush considered Clint Eastwood for vice president?

As part of the release the oral history of President George H.W. Bush by The Miller Center at the University of Virginia, the center has put online audio clips of its interviews with more than 50 senior officials from the elder Bush's administration. Among the choice tidbits: Clint Eastwood's name was tossed out as a possible running mate during the 1988 campaign.

"Did you know that Clint Eastwood’s name was thrown out at one point?" former Secretary of State James Baker told interviewers (Audio available here). "When we were way behind. Honestly, it was suggested in not an altogether unserious — Well, he was a mayor. He was a Republican mayor. Anyway, it was shot down pretty quick. But we were looking at an 18-point deficit."

Eastwood was mayor of Carmel, California, from 1986-1988, ABC News reports. According to USA Today, Bush trailed Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis badly in the polls in the summer of 1988. Bush ended up choosing Senator Dan Quayle (R-IN) as his running mate.

The Bush oral history is being released at a two-day event in Charlottesville, Virginia on Friday and Saturday, "at which former Bush administration officials and scholars from across the country will discuss interviews that have been cleared for release and reflect on the many historic issues the Bush administration confronted, including the end of the Cold War, the Persian Gulf War, the no-new-taxes pledge, and filling two Supreme Court vacancies," according to The Miller Center.

Lucky for moviegoers, perhaps, the notion of Eastwood as VP didn't go anywhere. Eastwood's classic "Unforgiven" was released in the summer 1992, and commuting between Washington and Hollywood would have been a hard job even for a tough old gunslinger.