The game is on for Vice Presidential nominee. One only need survey the roster of democratic women in the senate or governor’s offices to see that we have a lot of good choices. I like Warren, Harris, Klobuchar, and Abrams. I think you could make the best argument for Klobuchar. But I don’t think any of them are as strong as some of our other choices. Top of my list are Senator Tammy Baldwin, WI, or Governor Gretchen Whitmer, MI. Given the ages of both Biden and Sanders, the choice of Vice Presidential running mate is more salient than it might have been. Though it doesn’t often happen, Vice Presidents do sometimes become president. I think the democratic ticket is strengthened by a woman VP nominee. If you look at the first term democrats who won swing House seats in 2018, you will find a lot of women – Ellissa Slotkin and Haley Stevens, MI; Cynthia Axne and Abby Finkenauer, IA; Abigail Spanberger, Jennifer Wexton , and Elaine Luria, VA; Susan Wild, Madeline Dean, Mary Gay Scanlon, and Chrissy Houlahan PA. Wisconsin and Michigan are two of the three states we all understand we must get in the democratic column. Baldwin or Whitmer would increase the likelihood of winning either of their respective states, if not both. Both are under 60. Both are proven vote getters. Personally, I’d be more inclined towards Baldwin. As the first openly gay senator, she has the potential to excite LBGT voters as well as women. Further, she is very solidly progressive, voting against the war in Iraq and having supported single payer health care. Those issues could prove important in uniting the party if Joe Biden gets the nomination. I think that’s likely.
Time for VP talk
Please share widely!
bob-gardner says
Not time yet.
SomervilleTom says
Agreed.
The very shape of the discussion is completely dependent on whether the nominee is Mr. Sanders or Mr. Biden.
I do think we should be cautious about arguments like the following:
I think the first caution in the upcoming election is to balance the voters the VP choice attracts vs the voters she repels. Sarah Palin is a case study in what happens when this balance is ignored (for whatever reasons).
A related second caution is to calibrate the size and influence of whatever community is being pandered to (because it is pandering). I would argue that the potential among AfAm women dwarfs the potential among LGBTQ women.
A third caution is to make assumptions about political views of the candidate and the identity group the candidate is a member of. AfAm voters and candidates are likely to be more, not less, conservative than whites.
My own bias — not necessarily supported by data — is that our VP nominee should be a southern black woman under 50. I think this is especially true if the nominee turns out to be Mr. Sanders.
I think Kamala Harris might be a good choice for AG, unless she proves to be too conservative for that (her track record in CA as a DA and state AG is not encouraging). I think AfAm voters already soundly rejected her Presidential ambitions — nominating her strikes me as “whitesplaining” as well as mansplaining.
bob-gardner says
“We” won’t be choosing a Vice President. I wish “we” were, because it’s hard to think up a process that would be worse than the one which has come up Tim Kaine, John Edwards and Joe Lieberman. Racing puppies could do better, an octopus throwing darts could do better.
But alas, the puppies, the octopus and BMG will have zero impact on the choice for Veep. Let’s not abuse the animals or ourselves by pretending otherwise.
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petr says
Gosh, Bob… I didn’t hear, ‘Let’s pick the VP.’ I heard, ‘let’s talk about who the VP might be and why.’ Nothing whatsoever to do with Octopodes, puppies and BMG’s place in the prescriptive universe…
… It’s almost like you have a grudge, or something, against BMG…
Christopher says
I like Warren for Biden, but not for Sanders. I don’t understand why Abrams gets mentioned so often. Her highest office so far has been party leader in a state legislature.
SomervilleTom says
Ms. Abrams gets mentioned so often because she is a black woman under 50 who is well-known with the black community.
I don’t want to see Ms. Warren nominated for VP. I think she’ll have more opportunity to advance her crucial agenda as senior Senator from MA.
petr says
Not ruling out a Biden/Bloomberg ticket, solely to take advantage of the surplus of Benjamins that provides–tho’ that might be the one thing that makes me sit out the race alltogether–I think there is one factor you are overlooking… If Joe Biden is really approaching the senescence we all fear then A) the decision will not be made by him and 2) will not be made upon ordinary political calculations of geography, terrain, ideology and whatnot. The decision will be clearly and concisely regarding the question ‘who will/can be an acceptable co-President/next President.’
I doubt, very much, that Biden even contemplates running for a second term. He’ll be 81 in 2024.
If, as has been alleged, Biden is the new front runner because he is the ‘safe choice,’ then the VP will have to be an order of magnitude or more on the ‘safe’ side, which is why my prediction is that the VP will likely be Pete Buttegieg (who is, after all, at one and the same time, eerily similar to and vastly different from Pence) after the job is offered to E Warren, who turns it down. Other safe options are strictly limited to any of the recent candidates, with Klobuchar at the top of that list. The least safe, but predictably Biden-esque choice will be Kirsten Gillibrand (modulo my comments re; Bloomberg, provided earlier).
People forget what a big deal it was to elect the 69 year old Ronald Reagan in 1980, then the oldest ever (until Trump who was 70 at his inauguration). The party bigwigs forced the 56 year old George H. W. Bush upon Reagan for just this reason–and we have evidence to believe that this was, as much as possible, a wise choice upon the part of the the Republican Party. Now, after Trumps ersatz erraticism (not at all leavened by Pence) and upon the verge of nominating someone even older and clearly diminished from his prime, the only sane course is to ensure voters of a continuity they can believe in…