Who should Hillary Clinton's VP pick be? Here are pros and cons for potential candidates

[NCTraveler]

COLUMBUS, Ohio—With Hillary Clinton on track to win the Democratic presidential nomination, she's now mulling one of the most important decisions of any presidential candidate – choosing a running mate.

A number of potential vice presidential candidates have been raised in recent weeks, via rumors, anonymous sources, and pure speculation over whom Clinton might pick, weighing factors such as geography, experience, race, gender, and party loyalty.

So far, Clinton has only offered vague hints about whom she might select as her running mate. Here are some of her most talked-about choices, along with their potential benefits and liabilities.

http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2016/06/who_should_hillary_clintons_vp.html

[NurseJackie]

1. Interesting read ... Thanks!

[Warren DeMontague]

2. Wow, one entire person no one has ever heard of, in that bunch, from west of the Rockies.

what about Gavin Newsom? I know, he supports legalized marijuana, which makes everyone on the East Coast pee in their pampers with panic, but actually to a good half of the country it's really not that big of a deal.

And in that vein, no one gives a shit if Al Franken admitted to doing cocaine. Obama already made the same admission, so the taboo has been broken.

[Recursion]

3. Unfortunately Brown's con is a killer: we cannot lose that seat

Kaine would lock up Virginia, which Trump (knock wood) simply doesn't have an electoral path without.

[Warren DeMontague]

4. Its such a shame we dont have ANY good senators from states with (D) Governors

Heavy sigh heavy sigh

[Recursion]

5. Love him. We don't need help in OR though.

That's the problem: we need somebody who carries some weight in a state that is the kind of state that often elects GOP governors...

Hell, everybody knows I love O'Malley, but same problem: we don't need help in Maryland.

[Warren DeMontague]

8. Fair enough. So then what swing state has a D governor? Ohio and Florida are out. PA?

Colorado is a swing state, but again, Hillary's tepid response on questions of real cannabis law reform at the federal level are potentially going to hurt her there unless she shows more leadership.

That said I know Hickenlooper himself has had his name bandied about.

I dont actually think at this point - it not being 1960 anymore- that geographic considerations in the veep slot really make all that much difference, at least not as much as the ideological ones do-- which may not be much either.

But if they do, thats all the more reason to not blow off the whole half of the country which sits west of Nebraska... which seems to happen an awful lot in these sorts of beltway discussions.

[Recursion]

9. Bezos?

She's said she's looking outside of career politicians...

Hell, Kerry got within a hairs-breadth of convincing McCain to be his Veep; is there a Huntsman-type Republican out there?

[Warren DeMontague]

10. People would shit a brick, and not in a good way.

I think Bezos is going to be busy enough trying to get amazon to turn a profit. I've been running them ragged with that 2 day free prime shipping, and I know im not the only one.

He also has his own space program to attend to, although..... he's no Elon Musk, cough.

And that dude is DEFINITELY Too busy.

If she really wants to think outside the box she could get someone like JP Barlow, although I think he's supporting sanders.

[Recursion]

11. I even thought Elon first, but decided he's too busy colonizing Mars

As long as we're going post-punk Big Sky people, Schweitzer is still plowing his organic fields, I think...

[Warren DeMontague]

12. I can think of one powerful wild card choice that would blow everyone away

I know, I know, never happen, plus they cant stand each other.

Still, a man can dream.

[Recursion]

13. HA! We could just recycle the old bumper stickers...

OK, that would in fact be amazing. But, yeah, they really hate each other from what I understand.

To the extent I have an analysis of Mrs. Clinton's psyche, the actual pick will be neither shocking nor awesome, and if I were placing money will probably be Kaine.

[Warren DeMontague]

14. People seemed pretty sure about Castro, for a while- i wonder what happened.

Its entirely possible that with trump as the nominee now, the latino vote is being considered a foregone conclusion. Or maybe someone has decided moderate east coast gravitas is more important.

But i am fairly certain you're right. Her pick will probably be someone real middle of the road, predictable and not flashy. Kaine is a good guess.

[Recursion]

16. esqueletos en el armario

That's the rumor I heard at least

[Warren DeMontague]

18. Funny, that's the same reason she probably won't pick me.

Although come to think of it, mine aren't really in any closets, they're out there like

[Cosmocat]

19. Pa has D governor

but,the D senator, Casey has a big name that makes him gold in winning state wide elections, but the man comes off as being on lithium,seriously. Fairly respected overall, but man, he has no energy to him that would make him appealing.

[Freddie]

21. PA Senator Robert Casey

Would be a good pick IMO. Gov. Wolf is a Dem so the seat is safe. Casey is young, a family man, uncontroversial, a reliable vote in the Senate. He's very well liked in PA and won re-election in a landslide. He's a devout Catholic and "personally opposed to abortion" but won't inflict his opinion on others.
PA is not exactly a swing state. HRC is very popular here and I can't see Trump winning here.

[beachbum bob]

6. hilllary has a large selection to chose from and I'm sure her VP choice will be good one

but it will not be another woman and it wont be sanders.....and may not even be a politician at all....what is a better play for this years election of outsiders? She could find a highly respected person to be her VP...choices choices choices

[Vattel]

7. Very tough choice. The only one I really like is Brown, but that seat in the Senate is precious.

[geek tragedy]

15. I would pick Klobuchar over Franken, if they're going for someone from Minnesota nt

[Jitter65]

17. I wish we could afford to give up Brown's seat but we can't. That makes Kaine the choice for me.

His service as a missionary and his fluency in Spanish will overshadow his "dullness" and his mostly moderate positions will play well among Independents.

[hollowdweller]

20. Perez would really make me more enthusiastic about voting for Clinton.

Honestly, I like Bernie but if it was a 3 way between Bernie, Hillary and Perez I'd vote for him.

He's the strongest one on labor. More specific than Bernie. Way better at explaining things than Hillary.


http://www.politico.com/story/2016/03/tom-perez-veep-cabinet-220704

[The_Commonist]

22. I've said it before and I'll say it again...

Want to ensure an historic landslide victory over the Drumpf?
Mrs. Clinton should select Sen. Sanders as her running mate.

He can be president of the Senate, where he is comfortable, and focus on getting some of his domestic and economic policy passed in congress.
She can focus on being commander-in-chief and dealing with her global contacts.
It would be win-win, and a Clinton/Sanders ticket would probably get 60 percent of the vote over a Drumpf/Palin/Nugent/Beelzebub ticket.

Unfortunately, Mrs. Clinton has a tendency to go the safe, focus group tested route, and she will surely pick one of the bland corpora-dems on that list as her running mate. This will have the effect of keeping the BernieBros home on election day, making it a nailbiter. Too bad really, A Clinton/Sanders ticket would be a bold move, but I don't see Mrs. Clinton as one to make bold moves.