As others have suggested, I’ve long had my eye on Bill Richardson as a potential running mate for Dean. He balances the ticket geographically, he’s got good foreign policy experience (which makes up for something that Dean lacks,) and he’s Hispanic. Richardson’s a popular governor, too, which will help.
Bob Graham is another good choice. Despite Graham’s presidential campaign having fizzled, he remains a very popular senator in Florida, and would give Dean some Southern credibility. The fact that Florida packs 27 electoral votes is nothing to overlook, either—not to mention that that state’ll probably come down to the wire again. Having Graham on the ticket would help Dean’s chances in the more borderline Southern states like North Carolina, Tennessee and Arkansas. Graham’s reputation as someone who speaks his mind and holds his positions in spite of opposition will match Dean nicely.
Wesley Clark would be a good choice, as well—provided a potential February 3 primary fracas doesn’t generate any bad blood between the doctor and the general. A general who opposed Bush’s action will play well on the ticket. Detractors will air ads featuring Clark’s statement on how Bush is doing the right thing, but that would only give Clark an opportunity to bring up how Bush duped America on the issue of weapons of mass destruction and the “imminent” threat of Iraq—and I know lots of people could relate to that.
lee suggested Ann Richards. Probably not, but what a team they’d make! She’s great; I’d love to see her back in politics.
Eliot Spitzer’s name has been tossed around a little, but I don’t see it happening. Spitzer would draw criticism to Bush because of Bush’s ties to Enron and unaddressed corporate corruption in general, but Spitzer is more likely to run for Governor of New York in 2006, and will probably win handily, unless the New York Republicans can dig up some heretofore unknown wunderkind.
And how about Governor Tom Vilsack of Iowa? He’s popular, balanced his state budget, and can’t run for a third term in 2006. I admit I don’t know enough about him to speculate whether he’d make a good vice president, but he does seem to have some of the basic qualities to recommend him.
I can’t see Dean considering any of the other Democratic contenders right now as a running mate. I really do like Dean/Richardson, though.
Concerning the question on this thread about crossover voters: it’s still too early to say which candidate’s going to attract the most crossovers. I’m betting it’ll be Dean; Bush is a known quantity, and those who believed his “compassionate conservative” spiel in 2000 won’t be fooled again. I’m pleased to report that my mother, a lifelong Republican and citizen of the swing state of Pennsylvania, won’t be voting for Bush again and quite likes Dean. She’s a senior citizen, too, but her main gripes are with the war and the lies leading up to it. My Republican Pennsylvanian sister is also leaning away from Bush, whom she voted for the last time. Okay, so that’s only two converts, but I don’t think there are many leaning the other way and anyway, those two are in a swing sta… er, commonwealth, which is a bigger deal. Me and my fellow New Yorkers will vote for whichever Democrat runs, and in large numbers.
