TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

If you are a committed Republican and you are gnashing your teeth over the flawed candidates elbowing for position in the quest to unseat a vulnerable president, you may be amenable to today's fantasy: President Kevin McCarthy.

Ridiculous, I know. Those cards have been dealt, and McCarthy wasn't even invited to the table. Won't happen in 2016, either. Truth be told, it probably never will.

But, after surveying the field of past, present and near-future GOP presidential contenders, it becomes evident that McCarthy possesses at least some of the requisite characteristics. The L.A. Times' George Skelton reached a similar conclusion in his Jan. 12 column, floating McCarthy's name as a not-unreasonable possibility for U.S. senator or governor: "I'm sitting wondering why McCarthy -- savvy, substantive, sane and civil -- (doesn't try)," Skelton wrote. Well, if U.S. senator or governor from the nation's most influential state, why not president?

OK, OK, I know what many of you are saying. This is the Kevin McCarthy who often seems more committed to the ideological fight raging in Washington than to the more mundane issues troubling his constituents back home. This is the Kevin McCarthy who has been known to fuel Washington's intransigence with partisan firebombs, lobbed in his uniquely soft-spoken way. I'm not talking about whether he deserves, or would even want, a desk in the Oval Office. I'm just observing that he has a few of the most basic qualifications to be a candidate -- and happens to belong to a party that has a serious dearth of same.

The qualifications aren't complicated.

McCarthy has a high profile -- that was evident (again) at the State of the Union address, when McCarthy and Eric Cantor followed the president into the packed chamber. McCarthy looked right at home.

The women in my life confirm that McCarthy is a good-looking man. There's no question he has presidential hair, a beautiful wife, great kids and a solid record of local and statewide service. He has a disarming manner, and although he can get wonky with the best of them, he glides easily into plain-spoken mode.

McCarthy is well-suited for his job as majority whip, even if the political winds of the past three years have complicated things for him considerably. He is a recruiter, a fundraiser, a convincer -- talents essential for a presidential candidate, and a president.

Again, some of you are groaning. I know, I know. McCarthy didn't graduate magna cum laude from Harvard. Well, neither did our last Republican president. No one from the Central Valley since Earl Warren (and he first moved north) has ever scaled such heights. Some of that is prophet-in-his-own-land bias: Many of us are simply of the opinion that national leaders do not, cannot, spring from the unremarkable bosom of the California oil fields. Generally speaking, that assumption is a mistake.

So, McCarthy has presidential hair. He'll clearly need more than a JFK coiffure to win the blessing of GOP kingmakers: McCarthy is lacking in some important areas (and I'm not addressing ideology).

Here are five things McCarthy needs to do to get on the GOP's presidential radar.

* Tame the tea party's representatives in Congress. McCarthy was supposed to lasso those new members who rode in on the winds of a small-government mandate, but it hasn't been easy. In order to call his tenure as majority whip a success, he'll need to develop a unified majority.

* Win over the local tea party. Only candidates who are in step with the Republican establishment stand a chance, but it helps if local conservatives are on board. Remember when McCarthy came to a local tea party rally with Speaker John Boehner and got chased away? It's been tough finding that political sweet spot.

* Create a signature moment. McCarthy doesn't spring from wealth or political royalty, so he'll have to differentiate himself from the field with an act of leadership, legislative or otherwise. That could be a tall order for the No. 3 guy in Congress.

* Find a steppingstone. Governors fare best in the presidential sweepstakes. McCarthy knows his way around Sacramento and may have the name recognition to one day get back there -- with a better, more challenging job.

* Find some money. Lots of it. McCarthy is a pretty good fundraiser who has been able to help fellow Republicans, but the presidential stage dwarfs anything he has ever attempted. He'll need some patrons.

Likely? No. At 47, McCarthy may already be a tad late to start this journey, assuming he's even the least bit interested. (He has never publicly mentioned the possibility, to my knowledge.) Should he? That's not today's exercise. Today I merely bring to your attention the fact that a potential future candidate with at least a few of the must-haves is right under our noses.

Email Editorial Page Editor Robert Price at rprice@bakersfield.com.