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[OFFICIAL] Joe Biden Veepstakes thread

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout: Debate & Discussion' started by Os Trigonum, Mar 6, 2020.

  1. Os Trigonum

    Os Trigonum Contributing Member
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    Assuming Biden gets the nomination . . . this article does a nice job summarizing pros and cons of several candidates, and introduces a new name I have not yet heard mentioned as a possibility.

    https://theweek.com/articles/900158/biden-veepstakes

    The Biden veepstakes

    Damon Linker
    March 6, 2020

    With Joe Biden looking increasingly likely to best Bernie Sanders in the Democratic presidential primaries, it's not too early to start thinking about who would make the best running mate for the former vice president.

    The electoral calculus could prove to be unusually complex this time around, yielding some seemingly obvious options — but also at least one surprising choice who could help to fortify the Democratic ticket as it heads toward its November showdown with Donald Trump.

    Though pundits still often think about nominees choosing running mates to help win specific states on the electoral map, it's been a long time since that was a major factor in decision-making. In recent decades, VPs have usually been chosen to heal intra-party conflict, send a signal to the electorate about where the ticket stands ideologically, or reassure anxious general-election voters about competence.

    Bill Clinton from Arkansas chose Al Gore from Tennessee to signal to the party and the country that in 1992 the Democrats were firmly rooted in the South and more ideologically moderate than they had been since the 1960s. George W. Bush tapped Dick Cheney not because his campaign worried about losing Wyoming but to allay fears that the man at the top of the ticket was a lightweight lacking in the knowledge and experience to serve as commander in chief. Barack Obama picked Biden to mollify similar concerns on the foreign policy front, not because he was eager to lock down Delaware. Finally, Donald Trump chose Mike Pence — much as Ronald Reagan had tapped George H.W. Bush and John McCain had picked Sarah Palin — to assure restive factions in the GOP that they had no reason for concern, let alone to stay home in November.

    In 2020 a Biden who wins his party's nomination will need to find a running mate who could address two potential concerns. First and foremost, there are worries about his age and signs of cognitive decline. The chance that the president would only serve one term and could possibly suffer a debilitating health crisis in office would be higher than usual during a Biden administration. This points to the need to pick someone young, vital, and supremely capable of taking over the presidency.

    Then there's the party and its factionalism. Despite the impressive display of consolidation among moderates on and since Super Tuesday, the Democratic Party as a whole remains fractured along both ideological and demographic lines. Biden is winning moderates, African Americans, older voters, suburban voters, and a decent number of working-class whites. Sanders, meanwhile, is winning the young, the left, and Latinos. That points to the need for Biden to pick someone to his left, and/or someone who isn't a white male. (Given the highly diverse demographics of the Democratic coalition, the days of the party running a ticket of two white men may now be permanently in the past.)

    So where does that leave us?

    Of the more than two-dozen candidates who ran for president this cycle, several stand out as solid choices:

    Assuming she doesn't endorse Sanders for president, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren would help excite women — above all highly educated professional women (with special emphasis on those who use Twitter). She would also be highly competent and give the campaign a wonkish, technocratic intensity while also appealing to the left-leaning voters who supported her campaign and at least some bitterly disappointed Bernie bros. On the downside, Warren's campaign dramatically underperformed, with the candidate never once finishing above third place — even in her very liberal home state. Exactly how much of an electoral boost she could offer the Biden campaign is far from clear.

    Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar would bolster Biden's moderate bona fides, project competence, help to ensure that her home state continues to vote blue, and maybe even contribute to the ticket's strength across the Midwest more broadly. On the other hand, Klobuchar also failed to generate much enthusiasm among voters in her run for the presidency (at least outside of Minnesota, where her endorsement of Biden the day before Super Tuesday paid off handsomely) — and there's little reason to think she would help the campaign with other demographic groups.

    The presidential campaign of New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker went nowhere, despite him being widely liked in the party establishment and by many journalists and pundits. As a charismatic, smart, idealistic, and youthful African American man who works to straddle the party's neoliberal and more progressive wings, Booker would check a decent number of boxes. Whether checking those specific boxes would add much to a ticket led by the moderate-progressive who served as two-term vice president to the country's popular first-ever African American president would be an open question.

    That leaves California Sen. Kamala Harris — easily the strongest choice among Biden's former competitors for the nomination. Harris has a sterling resume — criminal prosecutor, District Attorney of San Francisco, Attorney General of California, U.S. senator — and she exudes energy and compassion. She also outpolled Klobuchar and Booker for much of the time she was in the race and appears to have dropped out mainly because her bloated campaign ran out of money. Harris would contribute vigor, toughness, and an air of competence — and as a woman of color she would reflect the reality of an increasingly multicultural America better than just about anyone. That could pay lots of electoral dividends on Nov. 3.

    Looking elsewhere in the party, Stacey Abrams is often floated on social media and by activists as a fabulous choice that would super-charge the Democratic electorate. I don't buy it. Abrams may have a bright future in national politics, but she's not there yet. She's an author, voting-rights activist, former Georgia state representative, failed candidate for governor, and a celebrity of sorts among woke progressives and academics. Republicans might be willing to elevate to high office underqualified media darlings who excite certain segments of the party's voters, but Democrats should aim higher and broader than that. Opting for Abrams would leave the 77-year-old at the top of the ticket looking like he's been paired with someone not quite ready for prime time.

    That leaves the person who might be the best choice of all — and a true dark horse in the competition to become second in line to the most powerful job on the planet: Sixty-year-old Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico. A lawyer and former member of the House of Representatives, where she served as chairwoman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Lujan Grisham became the first Democratic Latina governor in the country in 2018. Along the way, she's also served as New Mexico's secretary of health. On the personal side, she shares with Biden a family history marked by tragedy: Her sister was diagnosed with a brain tumor as a child and died at age 21, while her husband (with whom she had two children) died of a brain aneurysm in 2004.

    Solid experience as a legislator and chief executive, the potential to woo Hispanic voters to the polls, a compelling and relatable biography — in all of these ways, Lujan Grisham could well prove to be the perfect choice to serve as Joe Biden's running mate and potential VP.

     
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  2. bobrek

    bobrek Politics belong in the D & D

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    Nikki Haley
     
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  3. FrontRunner

    FrontRunner Member

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    I wasn't familiar with Governor Grisham. She looks like she could be Katie Couric's sister.

    If Biden were to choose Kamala Harris, I would only donate to his campaign if it were in dire circumstances. I would vomit as well. Probably several times.
     
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  4. pirc1

    pirc1 Contributing Member

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    I guess no Democrat worth picking from states like Ohio, Florida, Arizona or Wisconsin?
     
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  5. JuanValdez

    JuanValdez Contributing Member

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    Just pick Barack Obama and let's go!
     
  6. justtxyank

    justtxyank Contributing Member

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    Well they have to be mindful of picking someone that a Republican governor would get to replace.

    Tammy Baldwin from Wisconsin would be viable but she's white and has no national profile so why pick her over Klobuchar.
    Ohio is off the list because of Republican governor.
    Val Demings from Florida is a possibility that's been floated, but she's a house member with very little name recognition.
    Arizona, again, Republican governor.
     
  7. ima_drummer2k

    ima_drummer2k Contributing Member

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    J.J. Watt
     
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  8. Major

    Major Member

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    I've heard Catherine Cortez Masto's name a few times. Checks a ton of boxes - young but not too young, Latina (where Biden struggles), female. First Latina in the Senate. Background as an Attorney General, though she does have some controversy there.
     
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  9. Mr.Scarface

    Mr.Scarface Member

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    Not legal, unfortunately.
     
  10. JuanValdez

    JuanValdez Contributing Member

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    If Trump has taught anything, it's that all is permissible until someone makes you stop.

    But, it's a gray area. You must meet all the constitutional requirements for president to be vice president. And a president can't be elected as president more than twice. But he wouldn't be elected president anyway, he'd be elected as vice president. As we saw with the question of whether John McCain was "natural born" or whether Obama was actually Nigerian, they'd just run the whole election and then figure out if the guy met the requirements at the end instead of authenticating candidates up front. Which is stupid, but has precedent. And then, after the election, what's the SC going to do, not let Obama be VP? Not let him become president when Biden dies? Will they jump over him and tap Pelosi? It'd be a mess because there is no accountability at the top. It'd be worth doing just for the giggles.
     
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  11. AleksandarN

    AleksandarN Member

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    Stacey Adams would be a great choice.
     
  12. Major

    Major Member

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    Or Michelle.
     
  13. Invisible Fan

    Invisible Fan Contributing Member

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    They looked past the Kenyan birth, so why not this.

    Protected classes get all the breaks. Don't have to work for anything....
     
  14. baller4life315

    baller4life315 Contributing Member

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    Can’t forget about Gov. Whitmer from Michigan. The Dems had her give the SOTU response, for what felt like, a mini-audition for the role.

    If I were a betting man, I’d guess Biden’s top three at the moment are:

    1) Kamala
    2) Abrams
    3) Warren

    I’m sure he’s grateful for Klobuchar delivering him Minnesota in dominating fashion, but his advisors are likely telling him she doesn’t have the ability to attract new voters the way the aforementioned do.

    Also, doing your due diligence and gauging Michelle Obama’s interest is necessary. I’m sure she’s unlikely to be interested, but a political heavyweight with her star power is hard to ignore.

    As for Val Demings, if you can sell me on her ability to make a tangible difference and potentially deliver Florida, then I’m all ears. Until then, I think there are better options.
     
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  15. Corrosion

    Corrosion Member

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    Anyone but Kamala.
     
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  16. dachuda86

    dachuda86 Member

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    It will be a woman... he will likely touch her inappropriately, say something that would normally trigger me too shame squadron of the left, sniff her hair, or somehow, knowing Creepy Uncle Joe... all three. And the left will pretend they still support him like he is great, and make excuses for this weirdo because of their distaste for the orange man. It'll be like watching Alex Jones down an ice cold glass of Bone Broth, trying not to throw up, and pretending to enjoy it.

    [​IMG]
     
    #16 dachuda86, Mar 7, 2020
    Last edited: Mar 7, 2020
  17. adoo

    adoo Member

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    actually, speaking from Sema, Al today, Sen Kamala Harris announces her support of Joe Biden as POTUS
     
  18. JayGoogle

    JayGoogle Member

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    It comes down to some people simply preferring Biden over Trump, they don't have to love the man, but they have to realize it is either Joe Biden or Trump.

    It really is no different from right-wingers supporting a man who mocks veterans, cheats on his wife with pornstars, and couldn't tell you three of the 10 commandments.
     
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  19. Corrosion

    Corrosion Member

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    I saw that.

    An endorsement is one thing , VP is another. I don't want that woman anywhere near the white house. Especially with Biden as POTUS.
     
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  20. Two Sandwiches

    Two Sandwiches Contributing Member

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    My rankings right now (what I would prefer):


    Michelle Obama
    Klobuchar
    Booker





    Kamala Harris




    I don't know how likely it would ever be, but if you want to energize the Democratic base, and almost guarantee a win, you nominate Michelle Obama. I can't say that with enough importance. People would go crazy for that.
     
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