2020: Picking a running mate upon entering the race

Politics & Elections
1

I’ve read a few stories about Joe Biden in 2020 recently, and it seems like he’s seriously considering a 2020 run. The stories I’ve read in the past day or so say he and his team are considering some outside-the-box approaches to the campaign, including announcing his candidacy with a running mate by his side. (Presumably a younger female candidate, to balance his age and white masculinity).

From Politico: Team Biden considers far-out options to take on Trump in 2020 (3/9/2018)

Emphasis mine, cuz this is the meat of my thread. Now granted, these are just aides talking outside-the-box to the press at this point. But I have to believe Old Joe, who wants the presidency like a fat kid wants brownies, doesn’t let things like this “leak” from his aides without his say so. He’s too savvy for that. Call this a trial balloon.

From the WP conservative blog: Here’s how we know Joe Biden is serious about 2020 (3/8/2018)

To counter these two stories, there’s another WP blog post that calls many of those ideas, including the early announcement of a running mate, “not good ones.” Regarding the running mate idea:

To counter that last argument: Who gives a shit about true drama? In 2020, we’ll most-likely already know who the GOP ticket is at that point (Trump/Pence), so they won’t be benefiting off any summertime drama. And I really don’t think most Americans who hate Trump want to be surprised by a bad pick by the Dems at that point.

We’ve entered a completely unconventional time in our nation’s politics…and even our nation’s history. We need to right the ship and get things back to normal, but I wouldn’t be opposed to some outside-the-box approaches to getting there.

I’ve been singing the song of how important it is for the Dems to hit on basically all of these marks on their 2020 presidential ticket:

-White
-Person-of-color
-Male
-Female
-Washington insider
-Washington outsider
-Executive experience
-Rust belter
-Red stater
-Military experience

No single candidate could check off all of those, but, with a running mate, you could. If someone like Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, or an outsider like AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka or Retired Navy SEAL Adm. William McRaven, found someone who could fill in some of the demographic and experience gaps, they could bust out of the gate in a whole new way: as a completely-balanced team.

Sure, we’ve never done this before, but there’s a lot of shit happening we haven’t done before. There was a time when presidential candidates didn’t pick running mates either; the general election loser was just the Veep. Maybe one presidential candidate selecting a running mate at the onset will give him or her a leg up, and maybe this will change the way we do things in the future. I mean, honestly, the person we usually elect as Veep is an add-on, an after-thought, yet this person could very well be our president someday. What would be so bad about them going through the primary process right along with the top of the ticket?

2

If the presidential candidate is someone like Biden, they NEED to have a black VP. The black vote is crucial. They need to energize black voters, someone like Obama could do it, someone like Biden can’t…HMMMM…I wonder just why that is? I’m not implying anything wrong with blacks voting for a black candidate out of racial solidarity alone…they deserve to have that. They deserve representation and the government typically doesn’t give it to them. And there’s no greater sense of representation than the executive office.

I’m not saying they should just have a token black person for no other reason than race - that individual also needs to be charismatic and qualified. But it would be a good strategic choice.

3

Sounds like Booker to me.

4

Well, I think Booker should be the presidential candidate, not the VP candidate - in that case, I think the VP would need to be a white, older male, with military experience, a conservative-leaning Democrat like Jim Webb. He would need to be solidly respected by the military, NOT someone like John Kerry whose anti-war activities were spun as unpatriotic.

5

Booker would be good, but I think going a little deeper into the Dem bench would be beneficial as well. The GOP likely has a few binders of attacks lined up for someone like Booker (and Biden and Bernie and Warren…).

I’ve thought Rep. Brenda Lawrence (MI-14) would be a solid running mate for someone like Biden or Bernie. First of all she’s an African-American female, but she’s also a:
-Retired federal employee (30 years with USPS)-- started as a carrier, retired in HR
-Been married to the same guy for 42 years, retired UAW/Ford
-Served on local school board
-Served on her city council
-Was mayor of Southfield, MI (a mid-sized, culturally-, politically-, economically-diverse city in metro Detroit)
-Ran against a pillar of conservative politics for county executive in a very conservative county in SE Michigan (Oakland County) and came as close as anyone’s ever come to beating him
-Ran for Michigan Lt. Gov. (lost in a year that wasn’t a good year for Dems in Michigan)
-As mayor, lobbied extensively in DC on behalf of the auto industry and mortgage relief during the economic crisis of '08
-Has served in the House since 2015, and is on the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform (See: Flint, Trump/Russia) as well as the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
-Is a member of the House Progressive Caucus

She’d make a solid choice for Bernie to announce with: She’s female, black, from a state Trump won, from a rust belt state, she has executive experience, and she’s new enough and unknown enough to sorta, kinda, qualify as an “outsider.” I mean, shit, she was a career postal worker before she got into politics. The only thing lacking on that ticket would be military experience.

ETA: She was also snapped playing Candy Crush during Trump’s SotU Address, which is a-ok in my book.

6

I agree, but I’d have Booker announce with someone like Rep. Seth Moulton or Ret. Adm. William McRaven (watch this commencement address from Adm. McRaven in 2014 and tell me you wouldn’t want to see him attached to a presidential ticket in 2020, either at the top or as the running mate).

7

Bernie’s done. Aside from his being old, Warren will strip a lot of his support, and he burned his bridges with the DNC. No joy there.

8

On his own, you’re right. But announcing *with *someone, an established Dem, that covers a lot of his gaps, maybe not so much. For all his faults, he does still carry the title of “Most Popular Politician in America,” I believe.

ETA: But don’t necessarily get hung up on Bernie here. This is more about a candidate announcing with someone as a running mate. Could that work to a candidate’s benefit, even someone like Bernie, who you say is done?

9

Grandpa Joe will be 76 this November. He said he didn’t have the steam in 2016

10

Forgetting about Biden and Bernie, I don’t like the idea of announcing a running mate early. First of all, in an average primary there are several candidates that have a good chance of claiming the nomination. Why would anyone want to prematurely hitch their wagon? Most primaries show a top tier candidate stumbling early and getting out of the race. Scott Walker didn’t even make it to a primary for the Republicans, Gary Hart had his famous incident before 1988 primary season began and Biden had his plagiarism incident early on as well in 1988.

Second, a potential Veep might not be willing to disclose everything in their past early on in the primary season. S/he may have some skeletons that they’re trying to keep buried and wont’ be willing to disclose them unless they’re at the point where they’re in serious consideration for VP and the presidential nomination for their party has already been decided. There’s some reason Gore didn’t go with the obvious choice of Bob Graham in 2000. I doubt we will ever know if it was a skeleton in the closet or it if it was really a personality clash.

11

No, that’s racist. You said it yourself:

A person’s colour has nothing to do with their ability to be a president.

Let me, however, suggest that you may be onto something. If Biden were to announce a running-mate early, Biden could then retire from the race sometime before final nominations are due and that running-mate could go on to campaign for the nomination in an enhanced position.

12

You are correct, but would it be fair to say that a Democratic Presidential winner needs ( Bill Clinton and Barrack Obama ) need to be loved by the African American Community to win?

I think you could argue its right. Biden might not even live through his first term if elected, and gimmick VP Picks ( A woman or minority candidate who’s not qualified ) is the quickest way to sink any presidential nominee by either party.

Trump isn’t going to win the African American vote, but he can point to a rising economy and the lowest African American unemployment ever.

13

If Biden wanted to be President, then why the heck didn’t he run in 2016, and save us all a lot of trouble?

14

Clinton 2.0 didn’t lose because she didn’t get the black vote - she lost because butthurt white people decided to take her deplorables comment personally, because listening to more than a soundbite is just too hard.

The suicide of his son MIGHT have had something to do with it.

15

Suicide? He died of brain cancer. (CNN)

Chronos: Dad Biden was bereft. He flat said he wasn’t up to running in 2016 due to his son’s death. Moreover, Hillary sucked it up in 2009 when Obama needed her and went to work as SoS. That had to be one of the hardest pills to swallow ever, and I’m sure she negotiated Obama’s support for her run in 2016. Not an unreasonable ask, in my opinion. Had Biden entered the race, it would have put Obama in a terrible position.

16

I hope that Americans of all colours look beyond the D and the R and at actual characters and policies.

Why shouldn’t a black person - I despise the AA term; either you’re an American or you’re not - vote for him if they like his policies and his character? (I find it difficult to believe that anyone can like the latter.) Do I recall correctly that one of his first Apprentices was black - and a woman?

17

Remember the adage about how you can judge a person by the way they treat the wait staff? Clinton demonstrated her character by calling ordinary voters ‘deplorables’. I rather think it went beyond that, though. For example, by all accounts, Clinton is not a nice person behind the scenes.

Compare Trump’s election with Brexit: the elites treated the British public with contempt, blatantly and crassly lied to them, and got their arses bitten.

18

That’s one way to look at it. Another is Hillary accepted the resume buffing job in exchange for becoming an Obama booster and to help her next run. I bet when she took that job, Biden knew she wasn’t going to let him have his mostly uncontested nomination in 2016.
Mostly, early selection of your running mate sounds like a horrible idea. As mentioned, it throws away the option of picking a close rival from the primary to help mend wounds. In Biden’s specific case, it looks like “don’t worry I’m really just setting up this other guy because I’m obviously just gonna be a one termer”. It looks like what it is, a way to take weight off how old he is. It’s not an insane brainstorming suggestion but I don’t think it’s a good idea.

19

Deval Patrick has started to make interested-sounding noises, even if Kamala Harris has more name rec. Cory Booker would probably go for the top job, though.

And there are still a distressing number of people who just will not vote for a woman. That includes a lot of women.

20

Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. If I vote for an R, and he/she wins, I’m stuck with the policies of an R. And I hate their policies.

I’ll never vote for another R again unless the Dem is such a fuckup that I can’t justify voting for him/her. I’m not going to gladly (or otherwise) bend over for entitlement, selfishness, and exclusion. And that won’t change in my lifetime.