Biden's choice for vice presidential candidate

Michelle Howard?

I’d prefer Tammy Duckworth if we’re going military. She’d evicerate Pence in the debates, and she’d be able to go toe to toe against anything Trump said about the military. She lost her legs in a helicopter crash while serving in the military.

Given Biden’s recent “I’m coming for you” towards Kamala Harris, I’m inclined to think that he’s leaning towards her as his VP, though I think she works better as Attorney General.

Klobuchar is a guaranteed win. Warren is a guaranteed loss.

Good grief, nothing is guaranteed.

I don’t think it’s going to be Warren, but the Senate seat isn’t an issue. Massachusetts Democrats have a veto-proof majority and could either ban appointments or require a same-party appointment.

None of his former opponents would give him electoral votes or grassroots excitement from their failed presidential run except Bernie. And there is no way he is picking Bernie. Not picking Warren either. And although picking someone from a state or region you need is conventional wisdom it is far overrated as a strategy.

I’ve never understood the “Pick someone from a swing state” mentality.

I can’t imagine voting for someone based on which state they come from. Let alone thinking “I just can’t decide between Joe and Donald. But Biden’s VP lives less than five hundred miles from me, so that settles it!”

So what makes picking a bland Minnesota moderate senator such a winning strategy? And who is saying he has to pick from his former opponents?

I hope that it’s Duckworth, but I fear that it’s Klobuchar. Klobuchar will seriously hurt his odds. The problem is that she’s boring. Now, there’s something to be said for boring, especially by comparison with Trump. But Biden’s already got plenty of boring, and boring doesn’t win elections. He needs exciting.

We lost Michigan by 10,000 votes in 2016. Currently Gov. Whitmer is sitting at 60% approval statewide, with only 22% disapproving. I can’t help but think having her on the ticket would be a nice boost, not only in Michigan but in places like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin as well.

Picking someone based on if they come from a swing state comes down to wanting to appeal to those voters who actually know the person on the ticket. People know and like Whitmer and approve of her job as our state’s executive, so the thought is that those voters would also approve of her as vice president/president.

I agree that the conventional wisdom doesn’t make much sense to me. I don’t know if it’s ever been proven to make a difference.

It does not have to be a former opponent. You are the one who mentioned bringing over electoral votes and grassroots excitement from a presidential campaign not me.

I’m guessing Klobuchar but that’s a guess nothing more. It can be anyone. I’m just hoping he doesn’t choose wrong. A bad VP pick can do a lot of damage, a good VP pick doesn’t have a huge impact.

In the end people vote for a presidential candidate not a VP. As long as it’s not a bad pick like Palin it will be a good pick. Klobuchar is competent and that’s more important than boring.

My feeling is Biden will 1) pick a woman 2) pick someone he can work with like he worked with Obama 3) pick someone who hasn’t fought against his plans.

He WILL pick a woman, this is a matter of record. He declared that he would commit to choosing a woman to be his running mate, during the last debate. At the time, it was my judgment that his proclamation was an impulsive spur of the moment statement because he was under the pressure of a question from the moderator about his record on women’s rights. Others here have disagreed with this assessment, claiming that they think he planned to choose a female running mate well in advance of that debate, and that he simply chose that moment to announce this. I remain deeply skeptical of this viewpoint, and I think I can read Biden well enough now to know that he was put on the spot by the question, the wheels in his brain were spinning, and he said “fuck it” and popped the clutch.

Again, just my opinion.

I think Biden made a dumb call for two reasons, for the record. One: I’m against the idea of categorically excluding an entire gender from the position. It’s sexist. It smacks of pandering. It’s one thing to decide, privately, “I think a woman would help balance the ticket”, and then choose one. But to openly announce it just has bad optics. Just my opinion, others may see it differently.

Two, and more importantly: he failed to take into account the fact that the tide of current events in the months leading up to the election could potentially shape a stellar VP choice who would then be locked out because it might be a man. Let’s say that in the next few months, one of the state governors does an absolutely amazing job of rising to the occasion, truly distinguishing that state’s mitigation efforts above all the others. Let’s say just hypothetically that Jay Inslee, for instance, in the course of governorship during this pandemic, comes up with some kind of amazingly creative and effective plan that leads to a situation when, after the initial dust has settled in a few months, the whole country is looking at Washington State and saying, “wow, they did something right - their response to the virus was head and shoulders above the rest of the country.”

Imagine this is a poker game. It’s Hold 'em. Biden has his cards. The coronavirus is the flop. The mitigation efforts are the turn. The resolution is the river. But wait, none of that matters because Biden folded as soon as he got his cards.

The electoral votes i referred to were meant to be separate from the presidential camapign grassroots excitement. I should have said, there is no residual excitement from when she was running AND she brings no electoral votes.

She brings no Latino votes, no African American votes, no progressive votes, no military votes, no youth votes, no votes from key states. She has no “following” and very little charisma. She would be Tim Kaine in a dress with a hot dish recipe, imo.

There needs to be someone on the ticket who can get more people excited this November, especially considering a vote for Biden is very well a vote for his running mate as the next president. She’s boring af.

To say that people don’t vote for the vice presidential candidate is nuts this year. The dude’s gonna be over 80 by the end of his first term. It’s more likely than ever that we’re gonna be picking the next TWO presidents when we vote in November. And that WILL be on everyone’s mind by then. If Biden doesn’t excite people like most nominees have done in the past, then it’s critical that his running mate can (especially in strategic states).

That’s what everyone says. But how often is it really true? Are you going to vote for Trump if Biden picks the wrong VP? Did anyone vote for Trump because of Pence? Did anyone not vote for Hilary because of what’s his name? The studies I’ve seen like the one I’ll link below say the importance of the VP pick is negligible. People are going to vote for Biden or Trump not Pence and whoever.

Even though it probably won’t move the needle much at all on Election Day his age does mean picking someone competent is much more important than someone who is exciting.

You don’t need to get my ass off the couch to vote. And regarding Pence? I would say yeah, he likely moved the Evangelical vote off the sidelines.

I totally agree with everything you said here, but I will and will go even further to show how inept he is.

Now that he has said it’s going to be a woman, I think he will double down and pick a black woman. That is going to be a huge mistake. Any Biden VP pick has a good chance of taking over during his term if his health fails, and lets be real, he seems like a frail old man. People know this, its being calculated into the choice voters make.

There is absolutely no way this country will tolerate a black woman as president. They will not vote for a ticket that has a clearly fading older white man with a black woman as the backup.

I know I’m ignored on this board but you all know this is true.

White women voted for Trump, that is a fact, knowing full well all of his misogynist bull. They are not going to care if Bidens VP is white, it won’t sway their voted as has been proven. They certainly won’t be swayed to Biden if the pick is black.

The liberal meme is that black women will save us. They won’t. I’m a 48 year old black male. Blacks as a whole make up a tiny percentage of the US population.

There is now way Biden can divide that percentage by half and think that will win the election for him.

The whole thing is a huge blunder on his part.

Biden/That Woman 2020. I’m in.

A woman who appeals to white women would be helpful. I really don’t know much about Gretchen Whitmer. Is she sharp? Quick on her feet? Charismatic? I’d like to hear about her strengths and weaknesses from some Michaganders in the know.

Here’s a great piece on her from politico, long but a good read: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/04/09/gretchen-whitmer-governor-michigan-profile-2020-coronavirus-biden-vp-177791

There is no Democratic woman that appeals to white women. Hillary was probably ultimate white woman presidential candidate. There is no way anyone today can top her credentials, but white women still voted for Trump in '16. I’ll say it again, white women voted overwhelmingly for Trump.

How do you all explain that?

There was a totally qualified, well vetted white woman and they still voted for Trump. How will '20 be any different? Why does the VP have to be a woman?