The Veep Search, Pt. 2: Obama

And now for Obama. His Top Ten:

Hillary Clinton

Senator Hillary Clinton is the veep nominee with the most vocal supporters...and the most vocal detractors. Choosing Clinton would unite the party, help heal the wounds of a long primary season, and could stave off a flow of Clinton supporters to McCain. But perhaps choosing a former Clinton supporter would do the same thing, and the defectors will likely cool off and return to Obama regardless. Hillary's experience might not mesh well with Obama's change message, but this is a spin problem that can be easily circumvented. Hillary comes with Bill, a brilliant strategist (that Obama's campaign was nonetheless able to outwit), and choosing Hillary will associate Obama with Bill's presidency, for better (relative peace and economic prosperity) or worse (Scandal!). In my opinion, Sen. Clinton has definitely earned a consideration after her primary performance, and she would make a great VP and a good nominee as long as she and Bill can diminish their own egos and content themselves with playing second fiddle. (Chances: 2%) [Add'l. Reading: Salon's flip sides of the same coin--Heads & Tails.] UPDATE: Obama named Patti Solis Doyle to be chief of staff for his running mate. This is significant because she was unceremoniously let go from the Clinton campaign in February. Not a good sign for Hillary's chances.

Bill Richardson

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson would be a nice choice for VP. He has executive and foreign policy experience; he has been governor for five years and was Ambassador to the UN before that. He could draw many Latinos--who overwhelmingly supported Hillary--to Obama and could turn New Mexico blue. Although hardly an exciting candidate during the primaries, Richardson could do much to beef up the ticket. (Chances: 20%) [Add'l Reading: Wikipedia]

Kathleen Sebelius

Governor Kathleen Sebelius (D-KS) would be a fairly good fit as Obama's running mate. She has clear administrative capability; as Kansas's insurance commissioner, she made a slightly controversial decision by nixing a proposal by an Indiana-based insurance provider to buy Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas, while she was also running for governor. She has a history of reaching across party lines. She could turn Kansas blue and help draw female supporters to Obama, if they don't perceive it as a slap in the face to Hillary. She is little known outside of Kansas; indeed, what I knew about her prior to researching this was Jon Stewart's lampooning her State of the Union response as "flat and boring." Sebelius also has little foreign policy experience, although she has travelled to the Middle and Far East as governor. However, her weakness are slight relative to her strengths. (Chances: 16%) [Add'l Reading: The Fix likes coins too! Heads or Tails?]

Wesley Clark

Retired General Wesley Clark has a long list of military credentials--first in his class at West Point (where he later taught), Rhodes scholar, various command posts, culminating in the Supreme Allied Commander of NATO during the operations in Kosovo--that would serve Obama well. Only two minor drawbacks: (1) WaPo reminds us that he has never held an elected office, and is this not particularly adept at political maneuvering. (2) As an early Hillary supporter, he criticized Obama's lack of experience. But Clark is the safest foreign-policy choice and would attract plenty of blue-collar voters. (Chances: 15%)

Jim Webb

Many are excited about the possibility of Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) as VP. Like Obama, he's been against the Iraq War from the beginning, and he predicted a difficult insurgency when the war had just started. He wrote another Op-Ed in the Wall Street Journal reminiscent of John Edwards' Two Americas. He recently proposed a new GI Bill of Rights that would have increased college benefits for returning veterans. He is a pro-gun Democrat, a plain-spoken, decorated veteran from Virginia, a red state growing increasingly bluer. But his plain speaking has a tendency of getting him in trouble. While teaching at Annapolis in 1979, he wrote an article entitled "Women Can't Fight," although he was endorsed by nine female soldiers in the 2006 Senate race. Some have inferred a glorification of violence and the Confederacy from his books. But perhaps the biggest problem is that he seems uninterested in the job and content with his Senate seat. (Chances: 12%) [Add'l Reading: Wikipedia]

Joe Biden

Senator Joe Biden (D-DE), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, would bring some serious foreign policy cred to the table. In 2002, he tried to pass a resolution that would have ensured that President Bush exhausted all the diplomatic means of dealing with Iraq before going to war. Born in Scranton, Biden could help Obama take Pennsylvania. However, his son is a lobbyist, and he got into trouble on the campaign trail for calling Obama "articulate." However, I think these flaws are forgivable/negligible in light of his strengths. (Chances: 9%) [Add'l Reading: Wikipedia, The Washington Post]

Tim Kaine

Current Virginia Governor Tim Kaine could help Obama with two constituencies. As a popular, moderate governor, Kaine could deliver the now purplish Virginia to the Democrats in November. He is a Catholic--he even took a year off from Harvard Law to go on a mission trip to Honduras and can speak fluent Spanish--and he could help draw Catholic voters, who largely supported Clinton in the primaries, to Obama. His centrism and eloquence would work well with Obama, their mothers were both born in the same Kansas town and Kaine was the first governor outside of Illinois to endorse Obama. The only drawback is that he too lacks foreign policy experience. (Chances: 6%) [Add'l Reading: The Boston Globe]

John Edwards

A lot of people, including Mrs. Wolverine, would like Obama to pick former North Carolina Senator John Edwards. During the primaries, Edwards seemed closer to Obama than to Hillary, and most Obama supporters liked Edwards. Many in the media have discounted him because he seemed to be of little electoral help as Kerry's running mate in 2004. But Obama is not Kerry. The biggest sticking point is that it is difficult to tell whether Edwards wants to be VP or wants a nice Cabinet post or maybe just wants a jet ski. (Chances: 5%)

Ed Rendell

Pennsylvania Governor and former Clinton supporter Ed Rendell accused the press of drinking the Obama Kool-Aid before the Pennsylvania primary. Now he says he's drunk some himself. As a former Hillary supporter, Rendell would make a nice unity ticket, and his support will help Obama win Pennsylvania. However, he does nothing to shore up Obama's foreign policy credentials. (Chances: 3%)

Evan Bayh

As one of the most popular Democrats in Indiana's history, Senator Birch Evans Bayh (D-IN) could deliver the right-leaning state's 11 electoral votes to Obama as his vice presidential nominee. Bayh was a two-term governor and served on the Senate Committees on the Armed Forces and Intelligence; he has executive and foreign-policy experience. As a Clinton supporter, Bayh could possibly unite the Democrats if chosen. He is a fiscally responsible, moderate New Democrat in the style of Bill Clinton, but without the scandals. He has been characterized as "bland," but this could simply complement Obama's soaring rhetoric. (Chances: 1%) [Add'l Reading: Wikipedia, The Indianapolis Star]

Honorable Mention:

Former Senator Sam Nunn of Georgia has worked tirelessly to limit the proliferation of WMDs, would give Obama much foreign policy cred, and could put Georgia into play. However, he has been out of the political arena for 12 years and was a fairly conservative Democrat when he was in it.

Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano has been mentioned, but Sebelius seems the stronger female candidate. More importantly, selecting her for VP is unlikely to take away Arizona from McCain--it's his home state too--and, most importantly, would force her to resign her governorship under Arizona law, which would mean that the Secretary of State, Republican Jan Brewer, would take her office.

Mark Warner, the third Virginian, is the state's former governor and is running for the Senate. Which is why he won't be Obama's VP. He's ahead of Republican Jim Gilmore, another former governor, in the polls and Democrats would like to take that Senate seat in the fall.

Former Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) has been suggested, but seriously? Sure he's been a co-chair of Obama's campaign, but he lost his Senate seat in 2004, the first party leader to lose their seat since the 50's, and since then has been working for a law/lobbying firm in D.C. He's too much of an insider for Obama's change campaign.

And you thought Hillary was the only unity ticket. Outspoken Iraq critic Chuck Hagel (R, yes R-NE) has been mentioned, and if Obama were to select a Republican, it would be him. And Hagel would consider if selected. But in the end, he is a Republican with conservative stances on most issues and would be out of place. Don't rule out a Cabinet post though.

Additional Reading

CNN & Deborah White