While Harris is not considered on par with Obama in terms of driving black voter support, the fact is that if she is selected, appreciation of the reality of her ascension and her potential future and what that means will translate into genuine enthusiasm in November.Īs Harris showed in the Democratic primary debates, and especially in the Senate, she is exceptionally effective in attacking Trump. I believe Biden will go with the strongest overall choice: Senator Kamala Harris of California. Think Warren at Treasury, Rice at the State Department, Duckworth at defence, Demings as attorney-general. And there are strong arguments for senators Tammy Duckworth and Elizabeth Warren representative Val Demings and Karen Bass former National Security Advisor Susan Rice and others.īut each of them could make a powerful statement in a Biden cabinet, too. The list of potential candidates - African-American, Asian-American, Hispanic, white - is long. This would make the most demonstrative signal about the choices he wants to make for the country and its future course. This strongly suggests, together with the need to secure decisive gains in black turnout in November, that Biden will turn to a woman of colour. The surprise in recent polling data is a majority of Americans believe the country has serious racial issues and it is time to address them more forcefully. It is a time to take another step toward forming a more perfect union. Third time's the charm for Joe Biden: now he has an election to win and a country to saveįourth, this year, more than any other given the upheaval in American society on issues of racial justice, there is a profound understanding this time is different - a moment of reckoning in the US. Indeed, the choices of Gore (by Clinton), Cheney (by Bush) and Biden (by Obama) shows the benefit of selecting a VP who complements the presidential nominee, either by expanding that candidate’s footprint (Cheney and Biden on foreign policy) or reinforcing a virtue for added effect (Gore as a Southern political centrist). So, a woman who is absolutely qualified and star-studded won’t get the nod if Biden feels they cannot do great things together through shared conviction and trust. Biden has to feel the same intensity that marked his bond with Obama over their eight years together. That is what Biden was under Obama, and that is how he wants to treat his vice president: a senior counsellor at the most pivotal moments. Bush, VPs have become true partners in governance, with real power and responsibility. Starting with Walter Mondale under Jimmy Carter, and then Al Gore under Bill Clinton and Dick Cheney under George W. In Biden’s lifetime, the vice presidency has been transformed. Palin repeatedly stumbled during the 2008 presidential campaign, hurting McCain’s candidacy.
In 2016, Trump made a very smart decision in choosing then-Governor Mike Pence of Indiana, whose deep ties to evangelical Christians sent the clearest message that their agenda - especially on social issues - would be protected by a Trump presidency, notwithstanding the clear moral failures that haunted Trump’s candidacy.įor the Democrats, black turnout in 2016 was down significantly, and Hispanic voting was static. If not electoral geography, then demography is critical: a selection that maximises turnout on your side. Trump is struggling against two invisible enemies: the coronavirus and Joe Biden In other words, if Biden wins, it will be from the ground up.
While that history suggests Biden should pick Gretchen Whitmer, the popular governor of Michigan, to ensure he takes back one of three industrial states Donald Trump carried in 2016 (Pennsylvania and Wisconsin are the others), this is not Biden’s strategy.īiden also intends to win the presidency with the same game plan he used to seal the Democratic nomination on Super Tuesday: rely on his champions in each of the key battleground states - Whitmer in Michigan, senators Tammy Baldwin in Wisconsin and Amy Klobuchar in Minnesota, Governor Tom Wolff and Senator Bob Casey in Pennsylvania, Stacey Abrams in Georgia, Mark Kelly, the Democratic Senate candidate in Arizona and the House congressional delegations in Texas, Florida and elsewhere. Johnson, for instance, helped the ticket carry Texas (his home state) and several other Southern states, guaranteeing Kennedy would win. Kennedy chose Senator Lyndon Johnson of Texas to be his vice president in 1960, potential candidates are assessed as to which voters they will deliver to the “ticket”. Andrew Harnik/AP Do geography and demographics matter?Įver since then-Democratic nominee John F. Biden has pledged to name a woman as his VP pick, which is expected in the coming weeks.
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