As the primary and caucus season grinds to a close -- slowly but exceeding fine, as they say -- attention has increased to the question of whom Barack Obama should pick as his running mate. One name that has gotten a lot of attention, from both "he should choose a Governor rather than a Senator" and the "he should choose a woman but not Hillary" camps, has been that of Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius.
I've answered poll questions about the Vice-Presidency, with options including Kathleen Sebelius, for more than a month now. Sometimes I've chosen her, sometimes not, depending on the other choices. But she seems like a serious option, and so I think it's time to admit that I do not know nearly enough about her. I'm hoping that more knowledgeable people here can provide information -- ideally with links -- that might illuminate me and others in my positon.
Here are some things I know (or think I know) about Kathleen Sebelius:
- She has been the Governor of Kansas since being elected in 2002.
- She is a past Chair of the Democratic Governors Association.
- She served eight years in the Kansas Legislature, from 1986-1994.
- She served eight years as the State Insurance Commissioner, the first
Missouri Kansas Democrat elected to that position in over 100 years, from 1994-2002.
- She is the daughter of one-term (1971-1975) Democratic Ohio Governer Jack Gilligan.
- The Kansas Republican Party was bitterly divided between moderates and conservatives when she won her first Gubernatorial race by a 53-45% margin.
- She has moderate-to-liberal positions on social issues like guns, gay marriage, abortion, and capital punishment.
- She won re-election 57-40% and is now term-limited.
- TIME Magazine named her one of the nation's five best Governors in 2005.
- There's no other way to say this and no compelling reason to avoid saying it: at 60, she is an exceptionally attractive woman.
- She gave the Democratic Response to the State of the Union Address in 2008.
I've been inclined towards Gore, Edwards, Strickland, or even Gary Hart, but I have to admit that all of that sounds awfully good.
Now, here are some of the things that I don't know about Sebelius:
- Is the job she did in giving the SOTU response, which I thought was flaccid, boring, and overall pretty rotten, an aberration, or is she really that bad of a speaker? If it's an aberration, why did it happen, and what can you point me towards that shows that she can deliver a great speech? I'd love some links, please.
- Can she be an effective "attack dog," as necessary, while campaigning as VP? How well does she fare in debates? Has she been challenged?
- What does her polling look like in Ohio? (I discount her "vacation home" ties to Michigan.
- Is she an exceptionally good administrator? In government, is she a reformer?
- Any skeletons in her closet that Republicans likely already know about or will find? (Please do not break news here.)
- Does she have any indication of national security credentials? Would average voters see her as able to take over the Presidency, a qualification for which, like it or not, includes being willing to give orders that will send American troops to their death and perhaps kill many others? (I'm not promoting an anti-pacifist agenda here; I'm just noting what voters are likely to consider.)
- What can be done to counter the suspicions that, as an attractive woman and non-traditional candidate, she's a "lightweight"? I recognize that this perception already (unfairly, in my opinion) is applied to Obama, as an attractive man and non-traditional candidate, as well as to Edwards; is it going to adhere to her as well?
I want to have an informed position on Governor Sebelius, as I feel I already have of most of the other prominent candidates, and I would welcome any enlightened information that the collective "you" out there might have.