A friend of mine said Obama should announce his running mate soon

[book_worm]

I'm not so sure about that, but I thought I would see what others here thought. That perhaps to shift the debate and make Obama's nomination look inevitable and impress some super delegates and voters alike, Obama should announce who will be his VP running mate between now and Pennsylvania. It would have to be some heavy-weight who would add a lot of stature to the ticket and get people to say, "Wow!" My friend says it should be Bill Richardson because of his foreign policy experience and ties to latinos. I'm not totally convinced, I think Biden might make a good selection too and impress super delegates as well.

But then the downside is that people will say that Obama is being presumptuous and we won't have anything to talk about going into the convention.

What do you think?

[MBS]

1. it would be very premature, presumptious, and all around inappropriate n/t

[Bryan]

2. It's a fun idea to play with.

It's risky and could be perceived as presumptuous, but it would signify a certain confidence, and Obama making such an announcement would give him another surrogate.

He and his team could come up with a pretty speech to the effect of "the people deserve to know the kind of decisions I would make as President" or some such twaddle, and the Senator could really sell it (he could even start naming his entire prospective Cabinet, one or two a week; it would get a fresh headline each time, and take some of the heat off the Senator by providing fifteen more targets).

The idiot press would fairly drool with excitement at the novelty, which equals more headlines, and Clinton would be put on the back foot; she couldn't really counter, since so much of her PR is designed to play down her perceived lust for power, and it would dovetail narratively with her campaign's inability to plan long-term (imagine the hilarity of her trying to settle on a prospective VP at no notice!). I may be nuts, but it has some appeal, at least on paper.

[goclark]

3. Too early IMO and then Clinton's folks would really be mad

Also, don't want to inject Race into this but isn't Richardson Hispanic?

For all these years it has been perfectly OK to have all White males and maybe one/two minorities in the cabinet.

Maybe I'm wrong, but two minorities won't fly.

[wildflowergardener]

4. minorities

I don't see why it would be a problem to have two minorities. He does have alot of experience.

And to tell you a truth, I was surprised to hear on the radio that Richardson is Hispanic - I didn't realize that and I did watch him in some of the debates - don't know if that would make a difference. Maybe I'm just not very observant.

I don't think he should announce a running mate though until he's gotten the nomination.

Meg