So picture it: Biden gets in the race, gains momentum throughout the fall and primary seasons, and wins the hearts and minds of America’s Democratic electorate as well as the 2016 nomination. Who does he pick as a running mate?
What gaps does he need to fill when he picks a veep?
-Gender. Should he go with a female? Does it matter?
-State. Does he need to tap someone from a swing state?
-Region. Does he need to tap someone from outside the northeast? Go southern?
-Race. Does he need to go Latino? Black? Doesn’t matter?
-Executive experience. Does he need to go with someone from a governor’s mansion, or big city mayor? Perhaps even a business exec? Does this matter?
-National experience. Does he need someone who has experience in DC? Or does he go with an outsider?
-Youth. Does he need to get a young person on the ticket?
-Ideology. Does he need a true blue progressive to rally the far left?
I’ll get things rolling: Hilda Solis.
Positives: Woman, Latina, comes from the southwest, daughter of immigrants, served in Congress, served in the Obama cabinet, solid progressive (on labor and environmental issues especially), only in her 50s, decent on the mic and in front of a camera, last year was elected to the Los Angeles County board of supervisors.
Negatives: Coming from California she doesn’t help with the electoral college (not a real big deal IMO), no executive experience to counter Biden’s lack thereof (although as sitting Vice President this may not be the problem it was 8 years ago), not *that *young, lack of real name recognition
Gender: doesn’t matter. There have been two female VP candidates. They lost. That’s not to say he shouldn’t consider female candidates, just females have had enough chances now that it should no longer be considered a great idea to nominate one to the most insignificant office in our republic as long as the President lives. Given that we’ve had two VP nominees and three female SecStates(which are actually much more important work than being VP), I just don’t see how it’s an imperative anymore. A Latino or Asian or gay person, that would be significant. Even a Jew, since we’ve only had one nominee.
State: This is always a consideration, although it’s not always what you base your choice on. But in a close race, getting someone from FL, OH, VA, or CO would be great if there’s a qualified enough candidate. Florida’s been pretty much denuded of high profile Dems unless one takes Bill Nelson seriously as a VP candidate(and it is at least somewhat plausible). VA is rich in choices, with Tim Kaine and Mark Warner available. OH has Sherrod Brown and Ted Strickland(assuming he doesn’t run against Portman), and CO has Michael Bennett and John Hickenlooper. So yeah, Biden could lock down a swing state with any of those choices I’d bet.
Region: irrelevant. Biden already has white working class cred. Grabbing a NE yuppie wouldn’t hurt him at all, actually.
Race: Two reasons for a non-white VP: to have a first(Latino or Asian) or to motivate turnout of the Obama coalition(black VP). Deval Patrick and Cory Booker would be excellent VP choices for the latter. Unfortunately, I do not think that are any Latinos or Asians who wouldn’t be a reach and look obviously like an affirmative action choice. So if he wants a minority, he should go black. Plus, as Nate Silver will tell you, African-Americans are a more important voting bloc right now than Latinos, being crucial in many swing states, whereas Latinos vote mostly in states that aren’t up for grabs.
Executive experience: doesn’t matter when you’re VP, you’ve already got the cred. I think Biden will want someone young but basically qualified. All the candidates I’ve mentioned so far fit that bill.
National experience: an outsider would be best, but due to the Democratic ass-whupping in the states, there aren’t many good Democrats available that aren’t DC insiders.
Youth: that would be best.
Ideology: Since Biden is fairly liberal but has white working class cred, he can probably get away with a true blue progressive on the ticket. But it won’t be Warren unless he announces Warren as soon as he gets into the race. Reason? Warren’s value to him is in the primary, not the general election. As a general election candidate, she adds nothing. In a primary she can be decisive. But if he does the traditional thing and waits until the convention, he’s probably looking for someone who helps him with the general electorate. Such as the candidates I mentioned earlier.
The guys who check the most boxes for Biden I think is Mark Warner or Cory Booker.
The only one that’s really a must for Biden is youth. Being Vice President is the best experience possible for qualification to the Presidency. It might not be all that close, but it’s the best we’ve got. And you don’t need to have a particular demographic actually on the ticket to appeal to that demographic.
Age, though… The core of the VP’s job is to be able to step in for the President in case of age or incapacitation. When you’ve got a candidate as old as Biden, that becomes especially relevant, and the way to balance old age is with youth.
My nominees for the “pointless waste of four years of your life” post:
Carlos Danger
Ivanka Trump
[del]Chelsea Clinton[/del]
Albert Arnold Gore, Jr.
Frank Abagnale (Let’s see him escape this time!)
Whoever at Google just approved the ugly new logo
Ed Zotti
Henry Rollins
Craig Kilborn
There are a lot of choices, obviously the risk of losing a Senate seat will be considered, as well as regional issues. But from what I understand, isn’t Brown really popular with progressives?
I’d like to see Al Franken, though Warner or Booker would be great choices, too. Julian Castro would be awesome, let’s really nail down that Latino vote.
You won’t do it with an affirmative action selection. Besides, the African-American vote is more important than the Latino vote and bypassing Booker and Patrick to reach into HUD for a Latino says pretty loud, “We take you for granted.”
Especially when wikipedia says of his HUD tenure:
And nothing of note has been accomplished since then. I’m not sure how Biden would explain that pick other than, “He’s clean and articulate! I mean, that’s a story!”
Seriously, do you think after eight years of Republicans going bananas over a black president that blacks are in any danger of embracing that elephant?
And you just proved my point. African-Americans have power. THey don’t need to vote Republican. They just need to stay home and Ohio, Florida, Virginia, Michigan, and Pennsylvania flip. They came out in record numbers to support Obama. They won’t do it for Biden-Castro. They will do it for Biden-Booker.
This is a guess, and I see no reason why it’s a good guess. In all probability there will not be a black Democrat on the ticket for 2016, so we’ll see.
Probably not, but there are at least two well qualified prospects. There are no well qualified Latinos, at least none that would be appealing enough to help the ticket. The only Latino Senator who is a Democrat is Bob Menendez, and that’s not going to happen for obvious reasons. For whatever reason, Republicans have been better at elevating Latinos to high office than Democrats. Asians too.
There is one man: Bill Richardson. Richardson is probably the most qualified man to be President in the country, so he’d be a great pick, but no one seems to be interested in him. Woman issues?
If we’re going by what has generally been considered qualified in the past, VPs are similar to Presidents: governors, Senators, top Cabinet members(not HUD, but State and Defense) or very high ranking House members.
Dems have Bob Menendez. Republicans have Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. Dems have one Asian governor. Republicans have Nikki Haley and Bobby Jindal.
VP isn’t about pizazz, it’s about picking someone who won’t damage the ticket and can be a credible President. An old candidate picking an unready candidate will look bad. There are plenty of young and interesting candidates who are also governors or Senators.
And why shouldn’t there be a black guy on the ticket? Cory Booker is a star. No reason to bypass him for a less qualified prospect. Don’t think it won’t be noticed.