Best Possible Running Mates

[liberalpragmatist]

I'm going to go through and name some names for each of the candidates that would be ideal running mates for that candidate.

Howard Dean

Though others ridiculed me when I said it, I honestly believe that if Dean is the nominee, as appears likely, I expect Senator Jay Rockefeller of W.Va. to be his running mate. Why? He's extremely intelligent, with years of experience in domestic and foreign policy, comes from a key swing state/region, one of the strongest liberal records in congress, and opposition to the Iraq War Vote to boot. In many ways, he'd be absolutely ideal.

However, there are plenty of other good names, mostly in the Senate -- Dean will pick somebody from Congress who can help him work with Congress. These names include Senators Carl Levin of Michigan and Dick Durbin, both of whom would be absolutely great, especially Levin, who was the chair of the armed forces committee. Joe Biden, and Bob Graham would also be good. However, Biden doesn't seem likely to stir much enthusiasm, and neither does Graham, who appears quite old and in relatively bad health. Don't forget that Graham is 68 years old. Somebody else floated the name of Bob Kerrey, former Sen. from Nebraska. He may be a good choice, but controversial. Certainly, they're both mavericks, and it would be an appealing ticket.

Wesley Clark

Clark has said he might name New York AG Eliot Spitzer his VP. That could work well with Clark, since there's geographic balance, and it would reinforce Democratic domestic positions, including heavy-handedness with corporations and Wall Street. However, he has no Washington experience, and that could be problematic. I think John Kerry would be an excellent pick for Clark -- two purple hearts, both excellent in foreign affairs, Kerry with a strong domestic record and could well potentially act as a "co-President" in dealing with Congress, at least for a few years. Otherwise, again, Levin, Rockefeller, and John Edwards could be good choices as well.

John Kerry

Just as a Clark/Kerry ticket would be good, a Kerry/Clark ticket would be excellent as well (actually this is the ticket I favor) - strong credibility in national security affairs, unite the prowar(ish) wing with the antiwar(ish) wing and stick it to the AWOL team of Bush/Cheney. John Edwards would be excellent as well.

John Edwards

Again, Clark is an excellent option for VP. Rockefeller, Levin, Graham are good choices with him as well, and Chris Dodd would be great, although a little bland. A number of former senators/elder statesment could work well too, including fmr. Sen. George Mitchell.

Dick Gephardt

John Edwards could be an ideal running mate for Gephardt, b/c ideologically they match quite well, both are basing their campaigns on working families, and there's good geographic balance. Durbin would be another excellent choice, as would some governors. I can't think of many more names for Gephardt, but I'm sure there are plenty.

I could go through Lieberman's prospects, but at this stage, I'm getting sick of writing, and I don't want to -- it's a totally moot point, anyway.

Regarding some other VP candidates: Many people have mentioned Bill Richardson. I can see him as an excellent candidate, especially with Kerry, Gephardt, or Clark. However, others have more experience in Congress, and I think that it would probably be best to let him serve out some more years as governor - he's only into his 2nd this year. Some have mentioned Evan Bayh and while that's reasonable, I think the nominee will see the party's mood wanting someone more liberal than Bayh. He would have been a good running mate were Bush not the president, but he just doesn't draw a strong enough contrast. Many have also mentioned Mary Landrieu. I don't know -- she doesn't really have the presence to be President -- she isn't commanding or a particularly experienced or illustrious. Plus, she's quite conservative, co-sponsoring the cloning ban, for instance, and supporting the war, and Bush's tax cuts. As for Blanche Lincoln, eh, she's very nice, good senator, but she also isn't commanding nor does she have the record needed for president. Unfortunately, there just aren't too many realistic female prospects for vice president that I can see. Pelosi is needed in the house, and Hillary's definitely a potential nominee in '08 but would be far too divisive right now. We have a number of governors, but most of them have started only within the last 2 or 4 years, and the most presidential, Jennifer Granholm, is ineligible. Unfortunately, 2004 is not likely to be a year for a woman VP.

(on edit) Sam Nunn has been floated too, as a possibility. He'd bring strong national security credibility, and electorally, he'd be good. Like others, have said, he'd be a Democratic Dick Cheney. However, he was always a conservative Democrat, and he's increasingly so these days. He's a much more loyal Democrat than Zell Miller, without a doubt, but he may be ideological uncomfortable with the ticket, esp. if Dean's the nominee. One troubling aspect is that he's a notorious homophobe, author of "don't ask don't tell" and he didn't want to allow gays in the military at all -- that was his compromise. I'm not sure what his position on abortion is.