Plus, he’s Catholic; not the kind of religious pro-lifer they (I’m talking about the chiefly protestant fundamentalist/evangelicals, not social conservatives in general) want, since he’s also against the death penalty.
I was thinking he’d go with Biden or Richardson, but I still think that Biden’s getting busted for plagarism thing would be troublesome. I don’t know why we haven’t been hearing much about Richardson lately…did I miss some big gaffe or something?
Richardson did get on the radar a little bit a few days ago when he (accurately) accused McCain of “whining” about Obama’s media coverage on his ME trip. I think he’s probably still well in the running, and if he doesn’t get the Veep spot, he’ll get SOS instead.
Evan Bayh seems to be rising as a dark horse too.
The Veepstakes is a wonderful thing, isn’t it? So much mystery and secrecy and meditation over a choice that ultimately makes such a minor difference. Most of the time, anyway.
I don’t think it will be Richardson. There is too much talk of inappropriate behavior with female staffers (touching and groping) and he was forced a couple of years ago to recant a story about being drafted by the Kansas City Athletics.
Whatever the truth or nuance to any of this, it would dominate the news the day of the announcement. Obama and co. don’t want that.
Between Obama by 2, and McCain by 1, during the past 2 months. Man, they’re all over the place!
Seriously, do you look at the facts before you post on factual matters? While I realize that “summer polls shift around” is a general statement, it was pretty clear which state’s polls we were talking about. And Virginia’s hardly moved all summer.
Look, I was a Virginian well before you were born. (Get off my lawn. :)) And the reality is that Virginia’s changing - gradually, true, but it’s changing.
There’s really no reason to believe the polls (SurveyUSA, PPP, Rasmussen twice) are wrong. They’re reflecting where Virginia is right now.
Sometimes things change. I remember when WV used to be reliably Democratic, when NH and CT used to be reliably Republican, and when Illinois used to be a swing state.
This year, Virginia’s a swing state. Get used to it; it’s likely to keep being one for a few cycles.
So when they say they approve of Kaine by a 56-39 margin two and a half years after the November 2005 election, it’s still a referendum on Warner?
Too bad. I like Richardson; us fat, ugly guys gotta stick together.
Kaine sounds like a snooze. I have a completely unjustified feeling Obama’s not going with a governor. Maybe that feeling is really that, if I were him, I’d shy away from guvs and go with someone with more foreign policy experience. Maybe someone ex-cabinet. But that’s for another thread.
I think this is why Mark Warner is unlikely as a VP choice. The VA Senate race is a good opportunity for the Democrats to pick up another Senate seat. The race is open with John Warner ® retiring and running Mark Warner, a popular ex-governor, gives a good shot to switch the VA Senate contingent from 2 Republicans going into the 2006 elections to 2 Democrats after the 2008 elections.
Not only that, but it’s been said that Obama’s going to be riding Warner’s coattails in Virginia, not the other way around.
Warner has said again and again he’s not interested; he’s got the Senate seat barring any live boys or dead girls. Being Obama’s veep is not his cuppa, I don’t think.
I seem to recall that he ruled out a presidential run back in October 2006 saying that he didn’t want to disrupt his family life that much.
Yeah, that, too, although you usually take that with a grain of salt coming from a politician. But it’s true that he can campaign for Senate here and be home to kiss the kids good night, unlike running for president or VP.
One HUGE difference is the length of the disruption. The major candidates for each party’s nomination (excepting Fred Thompson) started campaigning no later than early 2007; they basically committed themselves to the prospect of nearly 2 years of campaigning.
If either candidate were to announce their veep nominee tomorrow, the veep candidate would only be campaigning between July 31 and November 4 - just over 3 months.
If I were a politician, I’d cheerfully turn my life upside down for 3 months for a 50-50 shot at the Vice Presidency. But I’d have to be much crazier than I am to enter the Presidential marathon, even if I had all the right qualifications.
Not a Virginian, but a political junkie, and IIRC he innoculated himself on that issue by saying he’d apply state law as written and not impose his own views on the administration of capital punishment. Don’t think he pledged never to commute any death sentences, though.
Well, he commuted one last month. So there’s one right there, promise or no.
I don’t recall any statements about commutation, and frankly any politician would be an idiot to box himself in in that way over something like that.
Here’s Keane singing an old-timey gospel fave (he’s the one rockin’ it on the harmonica).
A possible strike against Kaine: his Lt. Governor is a Republican, and apparently a fairly conservative one. Picking him would cede the VA Governor’s mansion to the GOP.
This article at Daily Kos makes a good argument that Obama doesn’t really need anything from a VP candidate–he’d probably be better off running solo–so he won’t pick anyone with any significant negative. The author argues that Tom Daschle is the safest choice, with Gov. Sebelius right behind him.
Ugh, I hope not. Daschle’s the old “Washington insider” by any definition, and his last accomplishments include doing a horrible job leading the Democrats in the first few years of Bush’s term, then becoming the first Senate majority leader in decades to lose an election.
Sebelius would be a sort of consolation prize to the Hillary voters to whom gender matters and were disaffected by Hillary’s loss in the primaries. Governors have a way of being seen as presidential timber easier than senators, being from outside Washington.
From the local rag I didn’t vote for the guy, but I’ve really got no complaints other than he seems to be spinning his wheels due to legislative roadblocks for most of his initiatives. And like RTF mentioned, the Obama campaign appears to view Virginia with some importance.