Polt's Palace

Monday, August 03, 2020

Sunday, August 02, 2020

The veeps in charge are now at large....

Twelve years ago, at the end of July 2008, Uncle Polt took a look at the candidates for Obama's VP choice. You can read it HERE if you are so inclined. At any rate, back then, my preference was for Biden as VP, which is who Obama chose. Not let's see who we've got as possible Biden picks.

Biden has already pledged to chose a female VP, as well he should. I also think he will choose a woman of color, but I have nothing but my gut to base that suggestion on.

I have heard several women's names bandied about as being on his list. Let's take a quick look at them, in alphabetical order.

Stacey Abrams

WHO: Former Minority Leader of the Georgia House Of Representatives, Candidate for governor of Georgia, 2018
PROS: Georgia's generally considers a swing state, she may have become governor if not for electoral shenanigans by her opponent, who was then Secretary of State of GA, generally considered to be very intelligent and charismatic
CONS: No national experience

Rep Karen Bass

WHO: US House member from California
PROS & CONS: I'm sorry, I honestly had never heard of this woman before I saw her name on some lists. Apparently she's a great fundraiser and speaker, but really, California is safely in Biden column, she's never held any state wide office and she has NO name recognition. There must be something more to her, because I have no idea why she's even on the list.

Mayor Keitsha Lance Bottoms

WHO: Mayor of Atlanta
PROS: She's from a possible swing state, Georgia, she's gotten headlines recently for taking on GA's asshole governor Kemp over facemasks during a pandemic, has a great backstory (rising from poverty), she has Judicial, Legislative and Executive experience
CONS: Her experience is all municipal, within the city of Atlanta. She hasn't even any statewide experience. Honestly, I think the only reason she's even mentioned is because of her battles with Kemp. But at 50, as long as she keeps doing things right, she may have a future in state and national politics. 2020 just seems too early.

Rep Val Demmings

WHO: US House member from Florida
PROS: Was chief of police in Orlando at one point, 40% drop in violent crime under her watch and she could be a front person for police reform, great back story, Florida is THE swing state
CONS: Only been in Congress since 2017, lack of name notoriety, there will be issues with police conduct while she was the Chief.

Sen Tammy Duckworth

WHO: Senator from Illinois
PROS: Veteran, injured in battle, lost both her legs, was a Lt. Colonel, has no problem taking down her opponents verbally, would fulfill the "attack dog" role of VP candidate prefectly
CONS: She Asian-American not Black (not really a negative, but still) , Illinois is totally in the bag for Biden

Gov Michelle Lujan Grisham

WHO: Governor of New Mexico
PROS: Healthcare has been her signature issue since before she entered politics, as a Latina from the Southwest, she may help in Arizona and Texas,
CONS: New Mexico is small and in the Biden column already, no name recognition, not Black (again, not really a negative, but still...)

Sen Kamala Harris

WHO: Senator from California
PROS: Already campaigned for President, so used to the spotlight, hassle, and schedule, goes after he opponents with the zeal of a prosecutor going after a defendent, been in the public sector for 30 years and elective office for 18
CONS: California is gonna go for Biden by 25 points at least, not "progressive" enough for Bernie Bros and their ilk, had some issues as District Attorney in San Francisco and Attorney General of California that may be problematic (prosecutions against people of color and the like)

Sen Maggie Hassan

WHO: Senator from New Hampshire
PROS: New Hampshire is possibly a swing state, she has executive experience as she was previously governor of New Hampshire
CONS: New Hampshire is small state, New Hampshire has a Republican governor so he'd presumably fill her seat with a Republican, upsetting the Dems numbers in the Senate, she's white

Gov Gina Raimondo

WHO: Governor of Rhode Island
PROS & CONS: Rhode Island is small, it is a thoroughly blue state, and she is white. I have no idea why her name is mentioned at all

Former NSA Susan Rice

WHO: National Security Advisor and Ambassador to the UN under Obama
PROS: Foreign policy credential are unequaled, very intelligent
CONS: Doesn't seem to want the job, was somehow involved in the Benghazi issue and that would allow the Wingnuts to bring all that up again and harp on it non-stop for the remainder of the campaign, she is from DC, which is gonna go for Biden by 95 percent at least.

Sen Elizabeth Warren

WHO: Senator from Massachusetts
PROS: Would be great in a role of 'attack dog", probably the only person on the list who would satisfy the Bernie Bro constigent
CONS: She's white, at 71, she's really too old to be running with a candidate also in his 70s, Massachusetts is in the bag for Biden

Gov Gretchen Whitmer

WHO: Governor of Michgian
PROS: From a big, swing-y state, gets under tRump (impeached)'s skin, stood her ground against the weaponzied wingnuts who besieged the capitol in Lansing, has state legislative experience since 2000
CONS: Only been governor since Jan 2019, really not on anyone's radar until the dustup with tRump (impeached), at 48, has a bright future ahead of her, but probably not in 2020.

So my take: there are only four names on here that standout to me for a variety of reasons:

Stacey Abrams
Tammy Duckworth
Kamala Harris
Susan Rice

Out of these, I think Biden's gonna pick Harris. She'll piss off the Bernie Bros and 'purists' in the party, but dammit, I don't want him to base his decision on their wants (since they fucked us over in 2016 because of not voting for Hillary). And really, they SHOULD be voting against tRump (impeached) not FOR Biden's VP. Also, Harris seems to have the national experience, notoriety, and capabilities to do the job. (If I didn't think Biden will pick a Black woman, I probably would have gone with Duckworth...she would have been the ONLY person on either ticket to have serve in the Armed Forces, which might help with the military vote)

I can't state any other reasons, other than my gut tells me this is his best pick.

So we should see by the end of this week if I'm correct or not.

POLT