Veepstakes predictions and desires

York99 · Post by **York99** » June 10th, 2008, 10:34 am

I'm curious about who people think the candidates will take or who people want the candidates to take as VPs.

Haven't made up my mind about McCain yet, but I'm leaning toward Jim Webb for Obama... both in my prediction and my desire.

shando · Post by **shando** » June 10th, 2008, 11:18 am

I think McCain's gonna pick a governor, maybe Crist from Florida or Pawlenty from Minnesota.

I like Webb in the Senate, but this is a pretty convincing case against him as Veep, or at least I find it convincing.

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/ ... ebbway.php

For Obama, I'm also thinking a governor as well. I suspect it's going to be Richardson (Hispanic! But with a Anglo surname! Bearded! But cuddly! Apparently he might have some Bill Clinton-style lady problems though), but I would also be really into Bryan Schweitzer from Montana. A woman on the ticket would be good as well, but the two most often mentioned don't set my heart a flutter: Napalitno from Arizona (although that would be a stick in the eye to ol' McCain), and Sebelius from Kansas, and I don't think they could flip either of their respective states. I've heard some people talk about retired general Anthony Zinni (Lacey''s current top pick). What have you guys heard?

York99 · Post by **York99** » June 10th, 2008, 11:32 am

Good point about the governor thing. I was thinking Webb, though, because he gives the military credibility to Obama, which is one of his two major weaknesses against McCain (the other being youthful inexperience). If Obama goes the governor route, he needs to get someone with military background and from a swing state. I don't know enough about governors right now to guess there.

McCain should get someone who's a whiz at economics and who's in his late 50s so as to give a younger balance without injuring his message that experience matters.

Wesley · Post by **Wesley** » June 10th, 2008, 12:12 pm

Governors are always good bets, but I'm afraid Obama might go the military route to counter McCain's strengths on national defense and foreign policy and pick a Shinseki, who I have a great number of problems with for various reasons.

I also hate to see people who could be better utilized elsewhere "wasted" on the VP slot.
For example, part of me would love to see Bill Richardson on the ticket with Obama, but part of me also says I'd hate to see him actually being the Vice President when he would make such a wonderful Secretary of State (or President), for example.
I actually think Rice would be a good Presidential candidate for Republicans, but feel the same way about her as a VP.
Unless the president was willing to use the VP as a secondary Secretary of State, or Energy or a lot of other things, I hate using up people qulaified for other jobs in the position.

I wouldn't mind seeing someone completely unexpected, especially in these troubled economic and foreign relation times. Perhaps an Obama/(Steve) Jobs ticket? Now that's change we can believe in.

York99 · Post by **York99** » June 10th, 2008, 12:39 pm

Wesley wrote: I actually think Rice would be a good Presidential candidate for Republicans, but feel the same way about her as a VP.

If McCain wants to get away from the association to the Bush administration and the failures of Bush's foreign policies, this would be a disaster idea.

starkserious · Post by **starkserious** » June 10th, 2008, 12:40 pm

I still like John Edwards a lot for VP but I don't think he'd want to do it again. He certainly can speak to all those blue collar voters who are struggling right now like hillary did. But I agree that his talent lies elsewhere like as Attorney General...Can you imagine a Trial Attorney with subpoena power!...

mpbrockman · Post by **mpbrockman** » June 10th, 2008, 1:12 pm

Good point about Richardson possibly being "wasted" on the VP. I agree Sec'y of State would be good, he'd also be a brilliant Sec'y of Education.

I think I went through this on another thread, though. So I won't belabor. Just get that guy a cabinet post somewhere. "Bill Clinton-style lady problems"? When are American voters going to get past this shit about sex life being related to job performance. Oh yeah, never...

Speaking of which...

Crist will not be McCain's choice unless the McCain campaign wants to spend an enormous amount of time fighting off the rumors (?) of his homosexuality. Maverick candidate or not, we're still talking about the Republican party.

I don't know who I'd like to see on the GOP ticket: someone younger, with old school small gov't views, and few, if any, ties to the neocons and the the religious right. I can see a woman on the GOP ticket giving a lot of female Obama voters pause.

This is gonna be interesting!

Wesley · Post by **Wesley** » June 10th, 2008, 1:39 pm

McCain should offer the VP slot to Bob Barr.

arthursimone · Post by **arthursimone** » June 10th, 2008, 3:20 pm

I truly believe Obama will be the next president... McCain is past his prime and will spend every day trying to get away from Bush and Republicans in general. Obama's new, fresh, shiny and just what this country needs.

That being said, I also believe the GOP will be looking to raise the status of their 2012 candidate by making him/her the VP nominee for the sacrficial lamb that is McCain. As independent as McCain thinks he is, he'll be put under a lot of pressure by his party to do exactly this. Freshman gov. Crist comes to mind, though Romney would have to find some way to stay in the spotlight through the next few years.

As much as I hate the godfucker Bobby Jindal, I think he could very well be the VP nominee. He's equally new and fresh, and when McCain loses in november, Bobby will have his governorship of Louisiana to go back to in order to gain the experience he needs to be at the top of the ticket in 2012.

York99 · Post by **York99** » June 10th, 2008, 3:37 pm

arthursimone wrote:As much as I hate the godfucker Bobby Jindal, I think he could very well be the VP nominee. He's equally new and fresh, and when McCain loses in november, Bobby will have his governorship of Louisiana to go back to in order to gain the experience he needs to be at the top of the ticket in 2012.

If McCain adds Jindal to the ticket, he won't have the argument against Obama about age and experience (Jindal is 37 today (happy bday!) to Obama's 47 in August). As much as the Republicans would like the darker face and the appeal to youth on the ticket, McCain surely still holds enough sway to nix this on his own ticket.

arthursimone · Post by **arthursimone** » June 10th, 2008, 3:42 pm

York99 wrote: If McCain adds Jindal to the ticket, he won't have the argument against Obama about age and experience (Jindal is 37 today (happy bday!) to Obama's 47 in August). As much as the Republicans would like the darker face and the appeal to youth on the ticket, McCain surely still holds enough sway to nix this on his own ticket.

The GOP doesn't have a great track record when it comes to holding their own candidates to the standards they hold others to...

York99 · Post by **York99** » June 10th, 2008, 5:26 pm

arthursimone wrote:The GOP doesn't have a great track record when it comes to holding their own candidates to the standards they hold others to...

Oh come on, Arthur! Give me just 100,000 examples to support that.

I bet you can't even name half.

mpbrockman · Post by **mpbrockman** » June 10th, 2008, 6:16 pm

arthursimone wrote:
York99 wrote: If McCain adds Jindal to the ticket, he won't have the argument against Obama about age and experience (Jindal is 37 today (happy bday!) to Obama's 47 in August). As much as the Republicans would like the darker face and the appeal to youth on the ticket, McCain surely still holds enough sway to nix this on his own ticket.
The GOP doesn't have a great track record when it comes to holding their own candidates to the standards they hold others to...

Well, there'd always be Louisiana's long tradition of being free from corruption to fall back on.

improvstitute · Post by **improvstitute** » June 10th, 2008, 7:58 pm

I think Obama will select Bill Richardson. He can appeal to the Hispanic vote that could easily sway toward McCain. He is already pushing hard in the southwest hopng to convert some of the states that went republican last election. Those states obviously have a large Hispanic population that gets out and votes. I also think Obama will have much more success appealing to women (his wife and Oprah will get the big time assists there).

The down side to Richardson is that he will 70 after Obama 2 terms. That is too old to be president in this country I am afraid.

Outside the lines a bit - I hope Caroline Kennedy finds a spot in Obama's cabinet.

York99 · Post by **York99** » June 11th, 2008, 12:30 am

mpbrockman wrote:Well, there'd always be Louisiana's long tradition of being free from corruption to fall back on.

Hey now. Every state has plenty of corruption. We're just honest enough not to cover it up.

"The time has come for all good men to rise above principle."

"Someday Louisiana's gonna get good government and they're not gonna like it."

"People say I steal. Well, all politicians steal. I steal. But a lot of what I stole has spilled over in no-toll bridges, hospitals . . . and to build this university." -- speech at Louisiana State University

----Huey P. Long