Nate Silver's take:

quote:

In the abstract, Whitmer would be a logical enough choice as Biden's VP. What I wonder about is the extent to which there are Democrats who are advocating for Biden to pick a woman of color, as opposed to advocates for individual choices (Harris, etc.)

In other words, if Harris allies would not be very happy with the choice of Rice or Bass, and vice versa ... well then, maybe you aren't sure you can make a choice that unites Black Democrats behind you anyway. And then you start considering Whitmer.

Wouldn't Duckworth solve that problem nicely?

So Amy Klobuchar is off the table? My thinking is that if Biden wins, there will be a TON of heads down legislative and policy changes that need to be made. Klobuchar has been very effective in that role (as have a few others). Harris is a blank slate. I think Duckworth would be good.

The problem with putting up someone with experience is that they also have a record that can be used against them. Yet IMO experience is exactly what we need right now.

quote:

Originally posted by Nina:
IMO experience is exactly what we need right now.

I agree. But there are different kinds of experience. There's substantive experience, there's policy creation experience (negotiating legislative deals), and there's executive experience. We could use all three. And it's hard to find someone with all three.

because of biden's age, i believe we need executive experience in a v.p. most of all. i haven't been too excited about any of the other options. may as well be whitmer.

and this tyranny of demanding that the woman be "of color" is very irritating. the first criteria needs to be getting someone who is best qualified for the job. someone who will not be polarizing. i like warren, but she is a polarizing figure. i dislike harris, and she is also a polarizing figure. rice has been described as a "lightning rod."

The press Whitmer got for standing up to the anti-maskers is good press. You can go round and round about who is going to bring in this or that demographic. I wasn't for Joe, but he does have his advantages--he is someone Republicans can feel okay about voting for. let's not screw that up with his v.p. pick.

Is this an accidental information reveal, or a preliminary lineup that can be changed in a moment ...


Dem Convention Speaker Lineup

Seems like the people who put together that schedule wouldn’t know who the puck is.

And some of the people known to be in the running that aren’t given slots probably wouldn’t be given slots anyway. Susan Rice, Val Demings and Karen Bass wouldn’t necessarily have slots, at least prime time ones.

Though Whitmer could conceivably have been given a slot.... or the RI gov... hard to say.

Not to mention, schedules can change.

Now wait a minute, the news is highlighted by the surprised face ...