The gang at Blue Oregon set up this fun poll where you can rank any or all of 32 possible vice-presidential picks for Obama:
http://www.demochoice.org/dcba…
You rank the candidates you support, and you do not have to choose all 32 possibilities. I only voted for my top nine choices.
For an explanation of how instant-runoff voting works, click here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I…
Use this as an open thread to advocate for the VP candidate(s) of your choice.
I think Obama needs to choose someone who will help him 1) win the general, and 2) unite the party. In my opinion, that means either someone who helps in in polls across the board, someone from a crucial swing state, a Clinton loyalist, or Hillary Clinton herself.
Speaking of which, Matt Stoller has made a strong case for Wes Clark as the ideal VP for Obama.
10 Comments
odd Edwards wins
I like Edwards, but he was not exactly a great VP for Kerry.
philo Tue 3 Jun 7:56 PM
I suspect that is the instant runoff voting effect
Edwards may not be the first choice of the largest number of people, but he is probably the second or third or fourth choice of a very large number.
I think he did better as a VP candidate than people give him credit for. The Kerry campaign tried to keep him out of the spotlight and didn’t listen to his strategic advice. They sent him around to small and medium-sized media market towns, and he was drawing record crowds in those places. I believe he did a lot for the ticket.
desmoinesdem Tue 3 Jun 8:13 PM
also
its odd for someone to run for VP twise.. sort of like old news. he was on my list though, # 10. I love Feingold but don’t see him helping the ticket much. I thought Sebelius or Webb would have been on top .
philo Tue 3 Jun 8:29 PM
neither of those made my list
If Obama is going to choose a woman, it should be Hillary. She got 17 million votes in the primaries.
Sebelius will be a great candidate someday, but I wouldn’t support putting her on the ticket now.
Webb hates campaigning and has a history of making misogynistic comments, which is the last thing Obama needs on the ticket. The VP candidate should be a strong surrogate at campaign rallies in addition to tv shows (where Webb does well).
If Obama wants a running mate with military cred, Wes Clark would be a better choice than Webb.
desmoinesdem Tue 3 Jun 8:47 PM
I think "if its a woman its got to be hillary"
is bizzare.. Its true that in virtue of being a close second, Hillary should be considered, but if Barack thinks she would not be a good fit (and ther are reasons for him to think this) then she does not have the right to exclude over 50% of the population from consideration.
Wasn’t Webb’s sexist comments in 1982 or something?
philo Tue 3 Jun 8:58 PM
I have never expected
the first black nominee to choose a woman for a running mate. I expect Obama to choose an ultra-safe white man.
However, if he chooses a woman, I do think it should be Hillary. 17 million voters is a lot of support, and the majority of her voters were women. If he wants to unite the party, picking Hillary gets him there faster than picking McCaskill (much less qualified) or Sebelius (not nearly as good a campaigner).
Webb has a long history of sexist comments. I think many of them were during the 1980s, but who cares when they happened? Obama needs to mend fences with the women who supported Hillary, and so he needs a running mate with an almost-perfect record on women’s issues.
desmoinesdem Tue 3 Jun 10:48 PM
Clinton has a claim
independent of gender, but she also has a ton of baggage. I thnk picking her would only galvanize Republicans against Barack.
He is free ot choose whoever he wants. Why preclude 50% of the people–He does nto have to pick a woman, but he is certainly free to pick one. bizzare to give HRC that kind of veto (and why only women???) Sebelius I think would be good as a Democrat who wins in a red state. (also I loved it that Tester endorsed Schweitzer-another good choice)
philo Wed 4 Jun 10:41 AM
What balance?
One thing that I think is missing here is that when you start out electing candidates with IRV, it’s far less likely that you need to choose a VP to “balance” them. The candidate who would win a nomination under IRV would be one with a majority of support within the party to begin with. You find far less polarizing candidates and negative campaigning in such cases because polarization doesn’t usually pay off.
abkad Wed 4 Jun 2:15 AM
I am not much of a believer
in using a VP pick to “balance” a candidate’s weaknesses anyway. I have been persuaded by those who argue for a VP candidate who reinforces the strengths of the nominee.
That is why Al Gore was such a strong pick for Bill Clinton.
This year is a special case, because the nominee only just barely beat Hillary after a long, sometimes acrimonious campaign. I am not aware of any time we’ve had a nominee who didn’t win significantly more popular votes during the campaign than the losing candidate.
This year it might be more important to choose a unifying person for the ticket than a reinforcing person. That is one reason I think Wes Clark would be a strong choice for Obama. He needs to make a gesture toward the Clinton wing of the party.
desmoinesdem Wed 4 Jun 7:52 AM
Clinton
I think that Obama should pick Hillary Clinton. Yes I know that some people hate her. However if Obama supporters want to win the general election they should immediately stop putting her down and especially should stop insulting her supporters.
I don’t think that Obama should choose an ultra safe white man. I think he may, but if he does I think it will be a mistake. People vote for all kinds of reasons and one of the reasons that so many women voted for Hillary is because she is a woman…and a strong woman at that.
If a person is racist and sexist, he won’t vote for Obama anyway–even if he picks a white guy as running mate. If he is just sexist, but likes Obama then he will probably vote for him anyway–because women in “second place” are more accepted. If he isn’t racist or sexist then it won’t be an issue.
One of the reasons my mother-in-law gave for voting for Hillary is that she would like to see a woman president in her lifetime. I think that a lot of older women felt that way. Having Hillary as VP would bring in some of those older women voters–and older women are the most reliable (meaning they always vote) group of voters.
I also believe that one of the worst things that could happen for Obama would be if McCain picked a woman running mate. I don’t think he will…but it would be smart if he did.
lorih Wed 4 Jun 9:07 AM