The Obama VP Pick – Final Call
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So, my preference among the “names” out there right now is for Joe Biden. But something… and I have no basis to go on for this … tells me it will be Hillary Clinton.
What do you think?
53 Responses to “The Obama VP Pick – Final Call”
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© 2000-2011 Oliver Willis
If it were really going to be HRC, they would have announced it by now, and certainly before the “unifying” announcement that they would be placing her name up for nomination at the convention. Picking her as a VP candidate would have rendered the symbolism of that other action moot.
I think that she is not out of the question and would make for news flash if picked at the convention. I heard Clark may be in Italy so I don’t think its him.
I agree with White Whale that it would be a huge news story if after she didn’t make it on the first ballot at the convention, and he won the nomination, if he asked her to join the ticket.
But I really think she compromises his message. He needs someone who isn’t tied to Washington, and who didn’t vote for the Iraq War. So therefore a Governor.
I think right now I’d go with Kaine or Sebelius.
If it’s Clinton, it goes against every bit of practical and conventional (no pun intended) wisdom in the last decade of Democratic Party politics. The Hillary camp is as leak-proof as a spaghetti strainer, and the idea that no one would have laked it to Drudge if it was final is simply laughable. Meanwhile, for all the careful calculations and prep work the Obama team does, that they would hold announcing Clinton as the running mate prior to any public vetting is nightmarish. For all we know he could announce her to boos. He would have to be insane to be holding onto a pick that divisive until now. Plus, there’s absolutely no lead time for the backlash. If he announced tomorrow that Hillary was his running mate, all the clips of her calling him “unqualified” and “not passing the test” will be running DURING THE CONVENTION.
I’m not saying it’s out of the question, because if there’s one thing I trust Democrats to do, it’s pull of a brilliant and masterful defeat despite all the overwhelming obstacles (like, umm, actually winning) getting in their way.
I don’t like either of them. How about a governor?
I’d love to see Clinton for many reasons.
The biggest reason being is that in any sane universe, the selection of Clinton when for weeks the press has never included her in any of their pundited wise columns, would cause those same pundits to immediately resign on the grounds of their own incompetency.
But I truly think Clinton would be a great pick.
My political fear, coming from someone who knows shit about politics, is that Clinton will not be picked and McCain will choose Rice. I’m serious about that, and I’m ignoring the obvious gay black lesbian woman joke.
Contrary to what has been said about McCain, I see nothing in his background that tells me he could not, or would not choose Rice, and if he really wanted to take the wind off our pick, Rice would be an obvious choice.
I dislike McCain, and think Rice is incompetent, but I think the Republicans would love her.
I can’t imagine that Obama will choose Clinton, but I’d love to see him do that. I think the two would be terrific for the country.
BIDEN’S HEAD IS ALREADY SHAPED LIKE AN AMERICAN BALD EAGLE
WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT
Obama-Biden!!!
Has a nice ring to it
Oliver, you do realize that you have called Biden a racist in a past post, don’t you? You want a man you consider a racist to be a V.P. candidate?
Biden or Clinton as veep would be a disaster. Ain’t gonna happen. Obama knows he needs to run to the center, and putting a black man and a white woman on the ticket just makes for a bigger target for the GOP slur industry. Also, and probably more significantly, there’s no way in hell Obama or anyone on his team is going to share the Whitehouse with Bill. That’s the deal-breaker right there. Always has been.
Biden? I admit I like certain things about him, but he’s another ego-monster. Remember the Alito hearings when he put on his Princeton baseball cap? He might as well have worn a t-shirt saying “I AM AN ELITIST DOUCHENOZZLE.”
It’s gonna be Evan Bayh. That doesn’t really excite me but then again, the veep can’t really help you, only hurt you. Bayh is safe as milk.
I haven’t read all of the comments yet, so forgive me if someone has already said this. I don’t think Hillary will be chosen because she attacked Obama so ferociously durng the primary. There are just too many clips of Hillary praising McCain and disparaging Obama. The Republicans would use these clips in their commercials against an Obama/Clinton ticket. I think for that reason alone, it won’t happen.
Jerry,
I doubt McCain will pick Rice because she is too close to Bush. It makes the whole McCain=Bush argument that much stronger.
Clinton would have been the safe bet at this point, if not for those clips others have mentioned. They’re pure poison. She played to win (and to crush Obama) and she lost.
I’d like to see it be Sibelius.
If Condi is McSame’s pick, I think it hurts him. Race is no longer in the equation, particularly as McSame as president is more likely than any since Reagan to have some health condition that would cause him to leave office, making it quite likely that his running mate would be president at some point.
I like Clark, Daschle and Biden in that order. I think Clark and Biden would be perceived as bolstering Obama’s foreign affairs credentials and both are old and white. Clark also helps to offset the Veteran vote that McCain gets by default. A name that was brought up on DailyKos a few weeks ago that I thought adroit: Daschle. I know he has problems with his wife being a lobbyist and he was seen as some to not have done much for the party when he was majority leader; but I think he is a great pick. He won’t rock the boat, he can speak intelligently on a wide range of topics and he is from South Dakota.
When it comes down to it, I think it will be Clark.
Sebelius would be a good pick, I think. Sure, some Clinton diehards may resent it, but it’s still a qualified woman in the VP slot. She would have to exceed expectations in her acceptance speech, though.
I wish Gore would take the gig.
Assuming he wants to WIN, it can’t be the baby-Bayh, absolutely not Clinton, ( don’t need Republicans to run screaming to the the polls now do we??), a wild card like Biden just isn’t compatible enough to the cautious Obama, no Virginians and no one else the media has tried to steer Obama to.
No, Obama needs a Dick . A big white one. And I’ve seen one I really like – once I think about what it can do for Obama – especially to all those blubbering Clintonettes who desperately need something to shut them the hell up…
Richard Clark.
He’s a security and foreign policy master that’ll make McCain and Lieberman cry. Everytime he’s been on tv, he defends Obama like rabid bulldog. The media can’t bully him.
He likely won’t want to run after Obama’s 8 years. He doesn’t need to agree with all of Obama’s platform – I don’t know what his party affiliation is and don’t care -because he believes in loyalty and service. If he couldn’t be loyal to Obama he wouldn’t take the job.
But bestest of all, he’ll make Harry and Steny cry too – cause he’s a genuine Dick.
Is that not brilliant, or what??
.
I’m not denying Biden hasn’t said some stupid-ass stuff in the past, but I also like his ability to be biting versus the GOP and he’s got good and smart foreign policy experience.
Sen Obama on Biden:
1. Wes Clark
2. Brian Schweitzer
That’s it. That’s the list.
Nice list, ed. I’ll second Brian Schweitzer. Wes would be all right, but Schweitzer would be a complete shock in all the best ways.
I gotta say, like many others here, I’d like to see Clark as Obama’s choice for VP.
Chuck Hagel.
I sighted an Al Gore Rumor in the blogs. Forget where. Very brief sighting but ID is certain.
I never thought of that. Big Al Gore. Sounds good to me.
Hillary Clinton, Wesley Clark, Joe Biden would be fine.
Actually any of them would be OK. Gotta keep McCain from getting it. Bayh or Kaine (sp? -I can’t keep those kinda guys apart) would be small price to pay.
If McCaine wins, we are in very big trouble.
J,
McCain is not going to win.
I think they will look west.
The Democrats chose Denver because the Rocky Mountain West is a growth area for them. Also it helps with the electoral math.
We need to win every state that Kerry won and either take one big state from the GOP or three small states. So there is the frontal assault attack on Ohio or Florida. Like all frontal assaults this will be bloody, with little margin for error and low chance of success.
Or attack the GOP flanks, the small states. Let’s look at three small states which went for Bush in 2004. Two of them are out west.
Iowa: Should never have gone red as Kerry was the first Democrat to loose the state since Reagan wiped out Mondale in 1984.
New Mexico: Has been trending blue since 1992. Should be a pick.
Colorado: Little history of going Democrat in presidential races (1992 and 1964) however has seen a series of Democratic victories in the last six years. Currently has a Democratic majority in the State House and State Senate majorities the Democrats will most likely maintain if not expand in 2008. Colorado also has a Democratic Governor, 1 Democratic Senator and four of the seven Senators are Democrats. Sounds like nine electoral votes worth fighting over.
Clinton would hand Colorado to McCain.
I think the VP pick will be either Richardson or Sebelius.
Richardson makes New Mexico a lock and counters McCain’s southwestern strength. I don’t know enough about politics in NM to know whether McCain’s Arizona home carries much weight in NM. If it does then Richarson counters that. I also don’t think we should pick a VP based on the bigot vote. You think anyone is really going to say, “I would have voted for the *&^^%$ until he picked the ^%$#.”
I am not sure Richardson helps much in Colorado. There is a large Hispanic population but it is likely evenly split between hard business Republicans, solidly liberal Democrats and not going to vote no matter what.
Sebelius could help Obama in Colorado. Being from the western mountainous part of the state I think Kansas is “back east” but the people on the eastern Colorado plains think they are in Kansas anyway. I think she could get enough eastern rural Coloradoans to go Obama.
I do know Colorado politics. Most of the population lives along the Front Range (the eastern most range of the Rockies it runs North to South through Colorado spliting the state in half). Denver is solidly Democrat. Colorado Springs is hopelessly Republican. Pueblo is rural and conservative but has a labor heritage (steel) which swings it left. The left leaning Denver suburbs (Boulder, Louisville, etc) are evenly matched with the GOP suburbs (Jefferson County).
This leaves the eastern plains and the western mountains. The mountains are hard to predict. They could swing very left but have a stubborn streak which swings them right. Richardson could help here. Being from another mountain state he could be perceived as one of us. Turnout in the San Louis valley would increase and add to the Denver/Boulder totals.
Eastern Colorado will be harder for the Democrats to gain ground in but Sebelius could help. Eastern Colorado doesn’t think much of the Front Range or the mountains. Sebelius’s Kansas ties could siphon off a few GOP votes.
Neither Bayh or Biden help Obama in Colorado and both likely hurt him here. They will both be seen as east-coast elitists (yes I know Indiana is not on the East Coast but in Colorado Kansas City is considered “Back East.”)
Richardson or Sebelius can deliver Colorado and New Mexico and bam you are at 270 without a bloodbath in Florida or Ohio. (Provided he can hold on to the other democratic states.)
I’d like to see Sebeilus or Richardson but if it means an assured victory in November then hell yeah go with Hillary.
The more I think about it the more I am convinced that Bayh or Biden hand Colorado to the GOP.
I’ve always wanted to see Bill Bradley as VP. Heck, I wanted him over Gore in 2000.
I know, I know, ain’t gonna happen. But I like him a lost is all . . .
oops – meant to say I like him a lot – not lost.
Freudian slip I suppose
Biden’s too gaffe-prone. He would most likely be a disaster as a VP candidate. I think Bill Richardson, with his amazing resume, would be an excellent choice, although I also like Blanche Lambert-Lincoln (although even with her on the ticket, I doubt Obama could carry Arkansas. The entire South is pretty hopelessly Republican these days when it comes to presidential races).
My gut says HRC (mainly because if it were anyone else, he’d make the announcement earlier), my head thinks that’s impossible.
If Obama is as smart as I think he is, it won’t be Biden/Bayh. Maybe Kaine. More likely someone unexpected (and yes, Schweitzer would be pretty close to perfect), but my expectations aren’t that high.
It’s really not worth obsessing over. I haven’t seen an election yet where the VP influenced the vote, not even Dan Quayle, and he should’ve driven voters away by the truckload.
here’s no way in hell Obama or anyone on his team is going to share the Whitehouse with Bill.
Maybe they could have an arrangement where they put some tape on the doorknob to the Oval Office when it’s “in use”?
Forget Hillary–Vanessa is right about her bridge-burning viciousness in the campaign. And then there’s the Bill problem, a third wheel and still passive-aggressive toward Barack.
I’d like Obama to make 2 announcements – a tossup-state pol for veep and Biden for State. Deputizing Biden early to start exposing the Real McCain–and Joe’s good with sound bites.
Biden couldn’t get press if he’d been pre-announced for State? OK, then let him be veep–but a waste of talent.
The polls worry me. Play to win. Now.
Senator Clinton makes sense in one way, and one way only – electorally. She could throw her vast cadre of supporters behind him solidly, for good, ending any chance that a faction of PUMAs will vote for McCain against their own interests in a kamikaze sour grapes mission (which I don’t see as all that widespread).
However, other than that, she adds little. Let’s just be honest that they’re both lightweights – one’s a first term Senator, one’s a second-termer. Looking at this electorally, best if only one’s relatively new to elected Federal office (a retired military officer would also work), not both. The Democratic ticket needs a heavyweight to swing the independents and for the practicalities of governing, not somebody who simply solidifies support among the Democrats. Do we really want to see McCain’s ticket have a combined 40-50 years in office and the Democratic ticket have a combined ten? And the Republicans loathe anything Clinton with an irrational fervor – it’d be nice to keep that edge in turnout.
If he announced tomorrow that Hillary was his running mate, all the clips of her calling him “unqualified” and “not passing the test” will be running DURING THE CONVENTION.
There are several Presidents who took on their former rivals as running mates and did just fine. George W.W. Bush, for instance, referred to Governor Reagan’s economic plan as ‘voodoo.’ And yet they won, rather easily both times. This is not really a concern.
**That last paragraph should read ‘George H.W. Bush,’ if that wasn’t obvious. Still looking through those secretary resumes…**
Lincoln Chafee.
What?
Please let’s not consider Clinton or Gore anymore. The 90′s are over. Obama is the candidate of change – I hear – so why would he dust off those retreads? As Jack Nicholson said “This town needs an enema!”
Start fresh. Start clean. An Obama administration has to be similar to FDR’s first term. Try anything and everything.
Besides, who really looks forward to Hillary Clinton having the same powers as Darth Cheney? Certainly not Republicans.
Anybody know why in hell Chafee was even a Republican?
An Obama administration has to be similar to FDR’s first term. Try anything and everything.
I guess the parallel to John Garner would be… Nancy Pelosi?
I mean, Cactus Nancy has a nice ring to it.
Linc’s dad was a Republican, and he took his father’s Senate seat upon his unexpected death. As far as I’ve read, he’s a Republican who wishes the party hadn’t been taken over by the neocon cabal, and still holds some classically Republican positions that the GOP itself no longer considers worth its time.
Ah. Should have guessed, one of them McKinley/TR/Eisenhower republicans.
I understand he has since left the Republican party and is an Independent now. Which is confusing because he is in the Republicans for Obama club.
Still and all, a definition of moderate.
Clinton and hubby Bill are too defensive and would be difficult to work with. Biden is too talkative and, like McCain, has been in Washington forever and get little done. My choice is Wesley Clark. He would balance the more diplomatic Obama with some tough talk. And he has greater military credentials than Grandpa John-loves-me-some-Bush McCain (who’s military credentials are sketchy, at best).
If Clark backs up Obama, you can take to the bank. It’s good.
OW, we must have had the same thing for breakfast, because I was pondering the same possibilities this morning.
Biden would be a substantive choice, and would be a candidate taken very seriously by the very serious beltway chattering classes. He’s been a fixture in Washington long enough to impress Chris Matthews and Mrs. Greenspan – maybe Cokie Roberts would even forgive Barack for vacationing in the State of his birth.
Yes, Biden has been in Washington since the War of 1812, but Obama has the obverse problem as McCain: He needs someone who can mollify people who may have doubts because of Obama’s relatively short political office resume. McCain needs someone younger to allay the fears of him being older than Methusaleh, with one foot in the old age home and the other on a banana peel.
Although I ruled out Hillary weeks ago – mainly because of the tone of the campaign, and because she comes with some serious baggage – personally, I’m starting to change my mind and beginning to think she’d be a very good choice – and it would be a complete surprise – so it would almost have something akin to “shock value”. She would bring a lot of votes – and as far as any controversy she may bring along with her (in the form of her “can’t-keep-his-yap-shut” husband) – I don’t think the folks out there who would be offended at the choice are likely to vote for Obama anyway.
I like Wesley Clark too – but if he were to get the nod, the Media would talk about nothing else but how much he dissed John McCain’s service or some such twaddle.
Whatever he does, I really don’t want Bayh at all – and I’ve got nothing against Kaine, but I think that would be a mistake. The Republicans will just say “He’s got less experience than Obama” – and the prattlers on TV would be repeating it 24/7.
There are several Presidents who took on their former rivals as running mates and did just fine. George W.W. Bush, for instance, referred to Governor Reagan’s economic plan as ‘voodoo.’ And yet they won, rather easily both times. This is not really a concern.
Unfortunately, that was before blogs, online newspapers, 24 hours news channels, Youtube, etc. As much as it pains me to say this, AP is right. There was too much animosity between Clinton and Obama during the primaries that their sniping at each other would be nothing but a major distraction during the general election campaign.
I’m kind of hoping for Joe Biden. Biden is afflicted with a permanent case of foot in mouth disease. He’s a blowhard who likes to hear himself talk and the Obama campaign is going to be very busy issuing press releases to “clarify” something for which Biden was flapping his gums.
HRC. Not that she’d be my pick. Just a feeling. I think Biden, Bayh and Kaine are red herrings. If they come out with Hillary the talk of that will DOMINATE the news cycles and John McCain will be back to complaining about the biased coverage. He’d be relegated to page 12 news…”McCain complains in town hall meeting to the Sprintonfield County State Retired Old Folks home that he’s not getting enough media attention. His remarks were met with enthusiasm from the crowd in the form of uncontrollable flatulence and confusion as to “Why won’t Mel Torme sing for us? He just keeps talking!”
Just my two cents.
“Why won’t Mel Torme sing for us? He just keeps talking!”
LMAO. Well done.
Unfortunately, that was before blogs, online newspapers, 24 hours news channels, Youtube, etc. As much as it pains me to say this, AP is right. There was too much animosity between Clinton and Obama during the primaries that their sniping at each other would be nothing but a major distraction during the general election campaign.
Yeah, I don’t see it. HRC’s a bad choice for loads of reasons, but that isn’t one of them. It’d be a distraction for people that get all their news from blogs or the Daily Show. Everybody else will be exposed to the daily nice-making in the newspapers and 24-hour news channels (except probably FNC).
I’ll grant that this was the roughest primary of which I’m familiar in the modern era, but I still don’t see that as all that relevant. What do the independents care if the McCain camp uses their primary battles against them? They’ll just look like liars when they see Sens. Clinton and Obama making nice (moved past our differences, common vision for America, yada yada) when they come back from commercial break. I’ll tell you what I think is relevant – they’re not all that different ideologically, so it’d be easy to blend their programs.
I sure hope it isn’t Biden. The way Jay describes him, I don’t think it would be smart for Obama to run with a McCain clone.
“Biden is affected with a permanent case of foot in mouth disease.”
Biden has said some stupid things in the past, but they don’t rise nearly to the level of classlessness and stupidity regarding some of McCain’s gaffes. This is a man who has made “jokes” regarding Chelsea Clinton allegedly being ugly and the Iranian people getting cancer from our country exporting cancer to their country.
Birch Bayh. I’m disappointed with Obama lately, as he has voted away the Constitution on FISA, put up little fight against the smears, and has even placed in consideration for VP the co-sponsor of the Senate bill to allow W to invade and occupy Iraq for 5-1/2 years and counting.
John Edwards!
Oh, wait…. shit….
Meant to say Evan, of course, but still hope I am wrong.