Any other choice would be close to political malpractice. That's how critical Michigan is. Plus, she kicks ass. Let's have a two-woman ticket take on misogynists Trump and Vance.

Seems it has to be a white guy governor from a key state. Shapiro comes to mind.

but pragmatic and truthful. When President Obama was searching for a VP, we all knew he had to pick a white guy. The same applies to VP Harris. She needs to pick a white guy. Thankfully, we have some strong candidates for this.

He brings nothing to the ticket aside from his smarts.

I love Pete, but I don't think it's right in this situation. Harris is already connected to the administration as it is. It needs to be an outside person.

Wanting Pete on the ticket, in my opinion, has more to do with wanting to crush Vance in a debate, but I don't think it brings much electorally.

Let's get Kamala in the White House, and then Pete can be Secretary of State.

I think he'd be great, but there are other great options too.

Anyone who isn’t going to vote for a Ticket with two women on it wouldn’t vote for a ticket with one woman. So I don’t think a two women ticket is a concern.

As the sitting governor of the state. But she will be considered, and if asked, she will accept.

Which is not the same thing. She crafted her statement carefully. She will be considered, and if asked, she will accept I’m sure.

She has her hands full with the right wing yahoos in MI.
I would not be surprised if she was our President in the future though.
It sounds awful, but I think we need a white male on the ticket, or some people will freak.

For purely selfish reasons, I’d like him to stay here in Pennsylvania as governor. He’s been a great governor.

doesn't work out he will still be your great governor.

He can win votes instantly. The man is brilliant, compassionate, and stately. He'll be the quick-winner we need, with only 80+ days to go.

There are three to choose from.

Andy Beshear is young, likable, and is the anti-Vance. He won't deliver Kentucky but would probably assure wins in PA and the upper Midwest, and he'd help in NC and GA.

Roy Cooper is my governor. He's kind, thoughtful, calm. He's completing his second term as NC governor.

Josh Shapiro would deliver PA. He was attorney general and it would be cool to have two legal eagles go after the MAGATs.

And Beshear, come to think of it.

My vote is Cooper, personally. Shapiro next. I love Beshear, but I don't think he's used to national media/campaigns yet, and his interviews yesterday felt a bit rehearsed to me.

Excellent governor, would help deliver North Carolina, and help flip the state legislatures.

Harris/Shapiro strikes me as drawing 3 for an inside straight.

Beshear is good but he’s not bringing Kentucky.

Kelly is probably most likely. Hobbs is a Democratic Governor who will decide his replacement if they win. He was 2 years left on this term in the Senate.

He's a totally good guy and has been an excellent governor for North Carolina.

We have a plethora of amazing options

Why? Because Harris has known him for 20 years back to when they were AG's at the same time. She's going to want someone she knows, trusts, and can count on the work and values of the person. Biden knew Harris as a Senator when he was Obama's VP. While both Beshear and Shapiro have been AG's, they entered those offices about the time Harris was elected to the Senate.
My money's on Cooper, but I do find it interesting that all three men have been State AG's before being elected Governor.

Given the short timeframe here, Harris' personal relationship and trust with her VP is going to play a larger role than normal, I think. Unless there are some major issues we don't know about, my money would be on Cooper.

*Finishing his second term this year.
*Governed effectively (and progressively) with a Republican legislature.
*Working class bona fides
*Good speaker/debater
*The aforementioned AG background
*NC is in play

I think it's Cooper, Shapiro, Kelly, Beshear in that order.

That wouldn’t hurt either.

... draw some non MAGA Republican votes.

I'm sure Biden's recommendation had something to do with his being tapped to do this.

I'd be happy with Beshear, Cooper, Whitmer, Buttigieg or Kelly. I'm only too well aware of the arguments against two women on the ticket or an openly gay man on the ticket.

My counter argument to that is that if it's Whitmer, she has an unbelievably convincing camera presence. Both a great sense of humor, and razor sharp while thinking on her feet. She would be in high demand by every TV show from Kimmel to Jon Stewart to Maher to Maddow to Fox and Frauds. And she would setal the limelight from every single host.

If it's Buttigieg, he has been on hundreds of news/interview shows during the Biden administration, and done brilliantly EVERY time. His sovereign command of issues and details, combined with his ability to dominate an argument without getting angry or flustered have made him a towering media presence. After that, it's "gay, shmay." I think that after 90 secinds into an interview, even the most anti-gay bigot is taken in by what he has to say, rather than the sexual orientation of who is saying it.

Whether Harris is willing to take either risk is another matter altogether. She does not get this election handed to her on a silver platter, free of charge or sales tax. The damage to the ticket is likely to be minimal in either case, but "minimal" can sometimes mean the difference between winning or losing a swing state. We don't need Hillary Clinton or Joe Biden to remind us of that. They would actually be my two personal top choices, but I don't live in fantasyland.

Shapiro could probably do the job, but in today's supercharged environment, I'm not sure a Jewish VP would fare better than a gay VP. The God Squad would be working overtime against us one way or the other.

Beshear or Cooper? I like both, don't know a hell of a lot about either, although successful terms as governor of a normally red state (KY more so than NC) is no small achievement these days.

I know plenty about Mark Kelly, have known him and Gabby for about 20 years now. He was perfectly happy to take a back seat when Gabby held star status in the House, and after she was shot, always got her OK to go on missions in space, after offering to scrub them all. All Gabby had to do was ask (she wouldn't hear of it).

Washington, almost 2 years ago **:


I'm happy to let Holder do his job, and for Harris to consult with the right people and make a sensible pick based on reliable information. I'm glad she is the one to have to decide and I'm not. I don't know what I'd do with five Vice-Presidents.

**One funny note about that dinner with our 3 Democratic Senator friends--outside our little room, two Republican Senators were having dinner together: Roy Blunt of Missouri and Shelley Capito-Moore of West Virginia. They popped their heads to our room to say hi to their Democratic colleagues, and then looked me and my brother over. It was written all over their faces: "Who the hell are these two movers and shakers that they are having dinner with three Democratic Senators, and we don't have the slightest idea who they are?" I don't know if they ever got up the courage to ask, and if they did, I never heard about it. My brother and I had a good laugh about it, though.

My thoughts on the VP is (and for the same reasons you allude to) it will be a white male, Mark Kelly makes an awful lot of sense.

Katie Hobbs picks his replacement, and his replacement will have 4 years in office to make their mark before re-election.

Trump is most certainly going to go after Kamala on the border, and having an Arizona running mate makes total sense in batting against that.

His record speaks for itself, and will surely attract Republican lite independents.

The comparison between himself and Josh Shapiro doesn't seem equal as Shapiro seems a really fine orator and has that bit of x factor about him. I was speaking with a colleague in Pa this morning and he thinks an awful lot of Shapiro. That said, would having a "leading light" like Shapiro be a good idea for Kamala ?

In terms of Kelly, what's he like in terms of personality ? He seems, as you said, a very supportive person, which might suit Kamala more, but maybe not as forceful (wrong word) as Shapiro ?

I have no idea what he’s like as a public speaker or a campaigner. I know him strictly on a personal basis, have never been to a rallynor campsign event or anything like that.

I remember thinking back in 2016 that the quieter Tim Kaine (a hugely decent person) would be a good balance to Hillary, but later wondering if maybe it would have been better if a barnstorming pick had been chosen.

That made up for a lot of non-barnstorming. I realize that fluency in Spanish alone isn‘t enough, or else I‘d be on the list, too.

Actually, I was felt out in early 2016 if I would be interested in being Hillary’s Ambassador to Germany. I wasn‘t inclined then, as I wasn‘t anywhere near retiring, and my wife didn‘t want to move to Berlin. Plus, it would have meant a big salary cut. Eight years later, it‘s a different world, although I doubt they‘d let me continue posting on DU😛

I think they mean something else by diplomatic immunity 😝

Hear me out:
1.) I think picking someone from a must win state can appear desperate and like you’re choosing a person to win an election and not to run the country. That said, I think Kelly is a stellar choice. Personally though I’d like to hold onto that senate seat for a long time. Kelly can keep Arizona Blue for years to come.
2.) Andy has won re-election. And he did so as a progressive.
3.) He’d be an Olive branch to signify “Unity”
4.) His Dad. His Dad has had a lot of goodwill with Unions and you’d have Andy out campaigning and his Dad working behind the scenes.
5.) Andy can prosecute JD Vance for the fraud he is.
6.) He young. I think America is hungry for youth and energy.
7.) He knows how to talk to and about people. He won’t insult coal country. And I think Him and Harris would learn a lot from each other.

I think Beshear is too new to national media/campaigning. His lines in the interviews yesterday seemed really rehearsed to me.

Moreover, he is considered a nice guy governor. His personality through Covid was one of comforter. I really don't see him "taking it to Vance" in a way that doesn't feel fake.

Local Kentucky politics are different from national politics. Beshear was elected on the teachers pension issue and re-elected due to his handling of Covid. But we keep sending people like Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul to Washington. Beshear has been the right person in the right place at the right time, but I'm not sure that transfers over to a VP context.

I’ll be thrilled with any of the front runners. For me Andy and Shapiro are young, handsome, articulate. I think they’d keep the enthusiasm going.
Kelly is a solid safe choice. But kind of boring, like Tim Kaine.
Cooper seems kind of dusty too. But he’d be fine.
I just think Andy or someone not from a swing state would project confidence.

For the record, he's my governor in KY. He has done an outstanding job. A real godsend. I selfishly want to keep him here 🙂

I hadn’t heard him interviewed before and came away with the same impression. Likeable enough but responses did seem politically canned. Since most Americans don’t know him, he might not come out of the gate with immediate authenticity and charisma, and have enough time for folks to get to know him.

Pritzker would be a good bold choice. We don’t need Illinois. So that projects confidence. He has a ton of money and could help with unions and business class.

either one with Kamala is a winner.

I know he's going to help her make the right choice.
"Yes we KAM!"

On when they expect an announcement?

I have not heard back from Mark, which indicates to me that he has been told he is being vetted, and has not said he is not interested.

Again, if I do hear from him and he says please say nothing, I will post nothing.

I realize Beshear brings little to the table, but I like him plenty, though I don‘t know his foreign policy experience. With today‘s world, you had better either have it, or acquire it before the inauguration. Buttigieg does offer that, as well as probably the highest IQ in the class. I don‘t know Shapiro much, but he seems to bring much to the table, not the least of which is Pennsylvania. Like Buttigieg being gay, Shapiro being Jewish doesn‘t bother me in the slightest. I would just hope that the „I hate Israel“ crowd would be smart enough to understand that the US VP being Jewish would not mean that we would suddenly be basing the 82nd Airborne in the Negev.

They all bring something to the table, and the vetting process is well underway. I say, let them get to it, let Harris make her decision, and THEN get on with it. In a situation where there really is NO „wrong“ choice, it‘s not worth ignoring all else that needs attention.