# Who should Bernie Sanders choose for his Vice President? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [July 10, 2015, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-bernie-sanders-choose-for-his-vice-president/724725 "2015-07-10T02:10:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2015, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-bernie-sanders-choose-for-his-vice-president/724725/1 "2015-07-10T02:10:35Z")
I’d prefer he choose a female and that she be a bit younger than he is. But I’m open to other suggestions. Would Senator Kirsten Gillibrand be someone to look at? I don’t know a lot about her, but the little I’ve seen of her, she appears quite smart and very tactful. Any other ideas? ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2015, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-bernie-sanders-choose-for-his-vice-president/724725/2 "2015-07-10T04:02:01Z")
If Sanders was the nominee I don’t believe he could get anyone who wanted a political future on the ticket with him, for the same reason Goldwater and McGovern couldn’t get good VP candidates. No one wants to be associated with a losing ticket. So Sanders would probably get someone like Raul Grijalva. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2015, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-bernie-sanders-choose-for-his-vice-president/724725/3 "2015-07-10T05:27:22Z")
There’s Elizabeth Warren. She’s a progressive who some people have mentioned as a possible candidate. So she’d be an ideological fit with Sanders and would have the stature. It would benefit her because even if the Sanders-Warren ticket lost, running for Vice President would make her a stronger contender for a future presidential run. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2015, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-bernie-sanders-choose-for-his-vice-president/724725/4 "2015-07-10T05:30:55Z")
Warren doesn’t need the profile boost and she’s already pretty old. She either runs in 2016 or never. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2015, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-bernie-sanders-choose-for-his-vice-president/724725/5 "2015-07-10T19:15:12Z")
Is his campaign even going to get that far? ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2015, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-bernie-sanders-choose-for-his-vice-president/724725/6 "2015-07-10T20:28:31Z")
Hillary Clinton. I mean that. She’d be a great choice. She bring established, er, establishment credentials. Honestly, they’d be perfect together in either capacity. Pelosi would be good, too. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2015, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-bernie-sanders-choose-for-his-vice-president/724725/7 "2015-07-10T20:46:43Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Warren doesn’t need the profile boost and she’s already pretty old. She either runs in 2016 or never. By golly you are right. I had no idea she was that old. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2015, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-bernie-sanders-choose-for-his-vice-president/724725/8 "2015-07-10T22:20:42Z")
Al Franken? ETA: no, really. Why not? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2015, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-bernie-sanders-choose-for-his-vice-president/724725/9 "2015-07-10T22:32:25Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Warren doesn’t need the profile boost and she’s already pretty old. She either runs in 2016 or never. Why? Warren is 66. This thread is based on the premise that Sanders is an electable candidate at 73. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2015, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-bernie-sanders-choose-for-his-vice-president/724725/10 "2015-07-10T23:32:49Z")
> [@The Great Sun Jester](#): > > Al Franken? > > ETA: no, really. Why not? Because a two-Jew ticket is too much? ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2015, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-bernie-sanders-choose-for-his-vice-president/724725/11 "2015-07-11T01:24:43Z")
Hey if you are going to lose lose big! ---
**Author:** ![Billdo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/billdo/32/315_2.png) [@Billdo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billdo)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2015, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-bernie-sanders-choose-for-his-vice-president/724725/12 "2015-07-11T01:30:43Z")
> [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](#): > > Would Senator Kirsten Gillibrand be someone to look at? I’d say the consensus is that Sen. Gillibrand is [someone to look at](http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/09/21/reid-calls-gillibrand-the-hottest-member/). But I don’t think that’s the question you’re asking. ---
**Author:** ![race\_to\_the\_bottom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c4cdca/32.png) [@race\_to\_the\_bottom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/race_to_the_bottom)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2015, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-bernie-sanders-choose-for-his-vice-president/724725/13 "2015-07-11T02:13:40Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > If Sanders was the nominee I don’t believe he could get anyone who wanted a political future on the ticket with him, for the same reason Goldwater and McGovern couldn’t get good VP candidates. No one wants to be associated with a losing ticket. > > So Sanders would probably get someone like Raul Grijalva. Bernie Sanders would beat the Republicans. I think he should ask Elizabeth Warren. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2015, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-bernie-sanders-choose-for-his-vice-president/724725/14 "2015-07-11T02:53:59Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **Little Nemo** : > > Why? Warren is 66. This thread is based on the premise that Sanders is an electable candidate at 73. Balance on the ticket is probably overrated in most ways, but not here. The vice president’s primary job is literally just to survive if the President dies, and for an elderly president, that’s especially relevant. A young president like G. W. Bush can afford an old, experienced VP like Cheney, because it was less likely that he would die in office, and so Cheney’s value as an advisor was more relevant. For an old president, though, the calculation is different. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2015, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-bernie-sanders-choose-for-his-vice-president/724725/15 "2015-07-11T02:57:49Z")
> [@Billdo](#): > > I’d say the consensus is that Sen. Gillibrand is [someone to look at](http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/09/21/reid-calls-gillibrand-the-hottest-member/). > > But I don’t think that’s the question you’re asking. What a SILF! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2015, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-bernie-sanders-choose-for-his-vice-president/724725/16 "2015-07-11T03:30:00Z")
I know it’s almost become cliche at this point, but how about Julian Castro. Age aside, Warren’s also a lousy choice because she makes the ticket too homogeneous. Two east coast lefties? Nuh-uh. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2015, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-bernie-sanders-choose-for-his-vice-president/724725/17 "2015-07-11T05:17:12Z")
> [@race\_to\_the\_bottom](#): > > Bernie Sanders would beat the Republicans. I think he should ask Elizabeth Warren. If Sanders can make that case, you can put a fork in Clinton. In all seriousness though, how about Robert Reich? ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2015, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-bernie-sanders-choose-for-his-vice-president/724725/18 "2015-07-11T08:20:01Z")
Bernie Sanders/Brian Schweitzer 2016-The Only BS Is In Our Initials In all seriousness, Schweitzer or Jim Webb would make a great running-mate: like Sanders, Schweitzer and Webb are anti-Establishment Democrats and also plays to Sanders’s declared intentions of pursuing a fifty-state strategy and appealing to the white working-class. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2015, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-bernie-sanders-choose-for-his-vice-president/724725/19 "2015-07-11T09:15:08Z")
Sanders could get Webb but I don’t know that he’d want him. Sanders is already having problems winning over minority voters. Choosing Webb doubles down on winning white voters. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2015, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-bernie-sanders-choose-for-his-vice-president/724725/20 "2015-07-11T23:19:25Z")
Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey might complement Bernie Sanders. Young, competent former mayor of Newark NJ works well with leftie groups and investment bankers. He’s only been in the Senate since 2013 though. Kirsten Gillibrand is probably a better choice. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-bernie-sanders-choose-for-his-vice-president/724725.md?page=2)