Kamala Harris Is Favorite To Be VP
- Thread starter IowaHawkeyeFBnBB4Life
- Start date
Pretty much this. Unfortunately the way politics is currently, the Biden VP pick needs a bit of notoriety (aka celebrity). Harris is the best option on that front.
Hillary made many mistakes in her campaign, but picking safe/boring Tim Kaine was a major one. The days and weeks before the election saw only a smattering of people at Tim Kaine rallies, and the lack of enthusiasm was a killer (that and inexplicably avoiding crucial battleground states).
How many people went to Harris rallies? I don’t agree that she has star power.
Would Harris ignite the Trump push? Not because she’s black (getting ahead of the Trump people are “racist” false narrative), but because she’s polarizing and viewed as racially motivated.
This thread is an interesting mix of opinions and reinforces that there is no VP pick Biden can make that will please everyone. With Biden's big lead, his first goal should be "do no harm," i.e., no Sarah Palin, Tom Eagleton, Dan Quayle type picks that could cause lots of bad stories. The "deliver a state" narrative is overrated because outside of Lyndon Johnson, there hasn't been a VP that you could say delivered an otherwise contested state to a presidential candidate.
Harris is the best option for VP. She's a US Senator, was a statewide elected official in California for six years before that, and was vetted by the media when running for president. A sitting US Senator typically is perceived to have the gravitas to be President on day one. That's important given Biden's age. There are not likely to be any surprises with her. She is also best positioned to balance the moderate and progressive wings of the party, because she's liberal enough to please many progressive but not too far to the left to alienate all moderate or conservative voters. I also don't see the lack of charisma and other negative characteristics that some conservative voters on here see and I don't think the polling bears out their contentions, but we will see.
On some of the other candidates:
Susan Rice -- I like her a lot, but it will be Benghazi Tourette's from conservatives if she is the VP nominee. She's also never run for office and there is a risk putting someone who has never run for any office on that kind of campaign stage.
Val Demings -- A two-term House Rep does not convey the gravitas to be President on day one. Her tenure as the Orlando Police chief is also problematic and she's not going to move the needle on the vote in Florida.
Tammy Duckworth -- She is a true patriot, but I am concerned that with her on the ticket, we are going to hear a lot about the "old man and the cripple" narrative. I am not convinced she is a great campaigner, having lost a gettable house race before getting elected the first time.
Elizabeth Warren -- The absolute worse choice for Biden in my opinion. For all of the Harris hate in this thread, the hate for Warren is 100x that. She could do real damage to Biden's pitch of return to normalcy and she will likely hurt Biden's overall margin because there will not be a big enough boost from progressive turnout to makeup for the moderate voters she is not going to get.
Karen Bass -- No one knows who she is and I again have an issue with putting a House Rep on the ticket in this environment.
Michelle Lujan Grisham -- Again, no one knows who she is and I think the fact that she doesn't speak fluent Spanish will hurt with some Latino voters.
Harris is the best option for VP. She's a US Senator, was a statewide elected official in California for six years before that, and was vetted by the media when running for president. A sitting US Senator typically is perceived to have the gravitas to be President on day one. That's important given Biden's age. There are not likely to be any surprises with her. She is also best positioned to balance the moderate and progressive wings of the party, because she's liberal enough to please many progressive but not too far to the left to alienate all moderate or conservative voters. I also don't see the lack of charisma and other negative characteristics that some conservative voters on here see and I don't think the polling bears out their contentions, but we will see.
On some of the other candidates:
Susan Rice -- I like her a lot, but it will be Benghazi Tourette's from conservatives if she is the VP nominee. She's also never run for office and there is a risk putting someone who has never run for any office on that kind of campaign stage.
Val Demings -- A two-term House Rep does not convey the gravitas to be President on day one. Her tenure as the Orlando Police chief is also problematic and she's not going to move the needle on the vote in Florida.
Tammy Duckworth -- She is a true patriot, but I am concerned that with her on the ticket, we are going to hear a lot about the "old man and the cripple" narrative. I am not convinced she is a great campaigner, having lost a gettable house race before getting elected the first time.
Elizabeth Warren -- The absolute worse choice for Biden in my opinion. For all of the Harris hate in this thread, the hate for Warren is 100x that. She could do real damage to Biden's pitch of return to normalcy and she will likely hurt Biden's overall margin because there will not be a big enough boost from progressive turnout to makeup for the moderate voters she is not going to get.
Karen Bass -- No one knows who she is and I again have an issue with putting a House Rep on the ticket in this environment.
Michelle Lujan Grisham -- Again, no one knows who she is and I think the fact that she doesn't speak fluent Spanish will hurt with some Latino voters.
Last edited:
I would agree that Susan Rice is the most qualified minority woman in the country to the be POTUS. There are a handful of white women that I would rather see as his pick, but there is a tremendous amount of (undue but understandable) pressure for him to select a woman of color.
Rice would be a fine VP and great #47.
I would disagree with this. I believe that a current/former governor would (in general) make a better president. Governors actually “run something”. Senators do not.
No argument here. History has shown that the elected POTUS is typically a sitting or former governor or vice president. The VP pick is commonly a Senator, as VP could actually be considered a demotion for governors of big states.
I think DN's point is that being elected U.S. Senator of the largest state of the union might give KH an edge over some of the other candidates whose highest level of public service might be considered less impressive (ambassador, U.S. Rep, small state Gov, etc.).
These are unprecedented times. Possibly the oldest sitting president vs Donald-Freaking-Trump.
It doesn’t matter how qualified Kamala is if she is viewed as Hillary 2.0. I’m afraid that won’t end well.
Let’s face it. Voters like Trad and Goldmom will consider any D VP nominee as Hillary 2.0.
Biden shouldn’t focus on pleasing Trump supporters.
I don't disagree with you, but there are no governors that are in the top 5-6 picks for the VP slot, which is why I didn't discuss them. Part of the problem this year with picking a governor is it would be difficult to have any sitting governor both manage their state's COVID-19 response while campaigning nationally on the presidential ticket.
Kamala as Hillary 2.0 doesn't hold up in the polling I've seen and isn't a widely shared viewed.
Also agree with this. To the 15 second sound bite and low information voters (which may be the majority of voters at this point), the only commonalities between Harris and Clinton are Dems/gender.
The reasons for the dislike and even hatred of Clinton just aren't there for Harris.
How easily some forget what happened with the election in ‘16. It wasn’t Trump’s base that won.
I’m not forgetting at all.
I’m just saying, don’t be fooled by the Trump supporters claiming they are open to voting for Biden
