“ A slideshow prepared last month by the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) for GOP chiefs of staff and obtained by Politico ended on an image depicting a man on train tracks watching an oncoming freight train bear down on him.
The main driver of Democrats’ advantage is a superior online game boosted mostly by the platform ActBlue. That and the fact that Democratic voters appear to be focused like a laser on ousting Republicans from power is reportedly imperiling the cash advantage that incumbents often ride to reelection.”
Because she is a black woman, like he had been hinting at, yet one who would do absolutely nothing to excite his base.
I assume Biden’s base is centrist Democrats, and they will be happy with anyone who won’t draw attention from Biden and become a target (the way, say, Palin did for McCain). That probably means no Stacy Abrams, but I can’t think of anyone else that has been considered that is off the table like that. Who do you think would excite his base?
Idk…the issue of Sarah Palin wasn’t that she overshadowed McCain, but rather what she said and did. They selected a political novice from a sparsely populated state and threw her into the national spotlight where her folksy Alaskan banter didn’t play on the two coasts. I like to think that in the political universe pre-2016, candidates’ words mattered. But if 2008 and 2016 taught us anything about society, it was that female candidates are judged more severely than male candidates.
I think that whoever is Biden’s choice for VP, she/he will have some serious policy background and that includes Stacy Abrams. And I’m not sure if Biden would see charisma as detrimental. That’s really a Trumpian quality.
Good point. How about someone who won’t draw voters from outside his base?
I would say that the latter caused the former. She was a lightning rod for attention, and that both alienated many voters and undercut the “inexperience” argument against Obama. The only thing McCain had going for him was his persona as an experienced centrist, and she completely nullified that.
I also wouldn’t call Palin a political novice exactly, she was a two-term mayor before being governor and city councillor before that. Of course, Wasilla and Alaska are not exactly major political entities.
Biden is leading in the polls by a gazillion points; unless that changes between now and the convention his political advisors are going to tell him to not shake things up with his appointment, and he is not going to go rogue and choose someone against that advice.
Biden is pure politician, he will take votes from wherever he can get them.
Definitely.
My city is just a bit smaller in population than the entire state of Alaska. Being a council member and mayor of a small suburb of Anchorage is much like being on an HOA board in my eyes. She also had experience as the chair on the oil and gas commission, but I can’t believe there was much oversight going on by the citizens over the oil companies. And although she was governor of Alaska, it wasn’t even a full term.
I think that McCain’s people brought her in thinking that she get the women’s vote and, in turn, they could bring her up to speed. What they didn’t expect is resistance and highly independent streak.
I certainly agree with this, but I do think that this event is one reason Biden won’t bring in a stormy petrel. Back in April, when I was asked in another thread who I liked among the VP picks I mentioned Tammy Duckworth (though mainly for reasons unconnected to her politics), and I’ve been amused to see her creep into the list of potential VPs, but I’ll be surprised to see her chosen, as she’s very outspoken and independent.
I’m curious who people here like among the potentials. I know Abrams has strong support, but honestly I really do believe she’s not in the running. Warren has the advantage that she’s incredibly competent and ready to become president immediately if Biden croaks in February, but I think Biden really does want a woman of color as his running mate, so she is low odds. Meanwhile, there are all those other candidates, and the reactions I see here to them are mainly either negative or “who’s that?”
Except that the center is moving leftward- just as you’ve noted that Biden’s positions are. A plain Jane centrist will lessen enthusiasm for Biden.
I think any woman who runs with Biden will have a bullseye on them, whether it is Stacy Abrams, Karen Bass, Gretchen Whitmer, Kamala Harris or Elizabeth Warren. It’s sad that over one half of this country promotes misogynistic narratives that liberal women (and especially women of color) are somehow deeply flawed.
1988 would like a would with you, please step aside…
I’m just going to say no on Whitmer now. She wasn’t my first choice, but she has risen to the occasion, and we can’t really afford to lose her to Washington right now.
Yes, this is a good point, though I don’t know if any of the people he’s still considering are plain-Jane centrists, except maybe Whitmer. Duckworth and Demings are probably the most politically moderate of the bunch, but there’s nothing plain about either of them.
I don’t blame you for being selfish. 
This is why, even though it’s so lovely to have two excellent Senators from Illinois, I feel that we can lose Duckworth if need be because the Democratic governor will find a decent replacement.
Yes, please! She might not excite all the Democratic base, but she would absolutely wipe the floor in debates against Pence! I’m not convinced she’d make a bad president, either, should age of the presidential candidate make it necessary.
Sign of the times: Texas is very much in play for 2020. Both sides now spending money on TV ads in a state that hasn’t been in serious contention in over 4 decades.
The last time Texas went blue in a Presidential election, the Democrats were running a Southerner against an unelected, unpopular incumbent who had just spent what little political capital he had on pardoning his disgraced predecessor. It’s hard to overstate what a humiliating defeat this will be for Trump if Biden is able to pull this off.
Summarised: “voting has minimal impact on American politics, but Biden may be an easier enemy to defeat, so vote Biden”.
It’s a defensible argument, but not an unassailable one.
On the one hand, a Biden victory would see most of the middle class liberals switch sides and return to overtly defending the status quo.
OTOH, it’s not like they were providing much meaningful resistance anyway.
