Welcome back for more speculation! Today continues the new final series of possibilities for Obama's v.p.

This series began with a new top 14 list of names I considered most likely to be named Obama's v.p. running mate, and we'll eliminate the bottom vote-getter each day until there is a winner, or a real-life winner is named by Obama. Starting today, candidates will be listed in order of votes from the previous poll, from most to least, so we'll have some idea of preference in this thread's voting should Obama decide before there is a series winner. Sens. Evan Bayh (IN) and Jack Reed (RI) were eliminated in the previous round.

Please discuss any v.p. candidates in the comments. The most correct format would be to state their name, unless you have further comments. I'm happy to hear all ideas in this open thread, and I'm no official gatekeeper, so play nice.

(continued below the fold)

Welcome back for more speculation! Today continues the new final series of possibilities for Obama's v.p.

This series began with a new top 14 list of names I considered most likely to be named Obama's v.p. running mate, and we'll eliminate the bottom vote-getter each day until there is a winner, or a real-life winner is named by Obama. Starting today, candidates will be listed in order of votes from the previous poll, from most to least, so we'll have some idea of preference in this thread's voting should Obama decide before there is a series winner. Gov. Tim Kaine (VA) was eliminated in the previous round.

Please discuss any v.p. candidates in the comments. The most correct format would be to state their name, unless you have further comments. I'm happy to hear all ideas in this open thread, and I'm no official gatekeeper, so play nice.

(continued below the fold)

You are hearing it here first!  Sam Nunn will be the VP.   My source hinted to me over the weekend that Sam's stance on the Iraq War, his temperament, experience, and a moderate's vision for America and the world brings what Obama feels is needed to get both sides to come together.

Often we hear Obama talk about Dick Lugar in very admirable ways. My source tells me Obama highly respects Lugar and Nunn's type relationship. He likes their honest thoughtful approach to politics and how it has the majority of American in mind and doesn't embrace wedge politics.

Because Nunn is in the private sector now he will not be leaving a senate seat or a governor’s office open. The Obama campaign knows that the older Nunn may not get the excitement level up that some younger Obama supporters are looking for. However they feel that job of an Obama VP should be a serious experienced person who has the ability to make the McCain seem like a bunch of reckless juveniles no different than the Bush administration.

You don't have to take my word for it though. You will be finding out soon enough :-)

Welcome back for more speculation! Today continues the new final series of possibilities for Obama's v.p.

This series began with a new top 14 list of names I considered most likely to be named Obama's v.p. running mate, and we'll eliminate the bottom vote-getter each day until there is a winner, or a real-life winner is named by Obama. Starting today, candidates will be listed in order of votes from the previous poll, from most to least, so we'll have some idea of preference in this thread's voting should Obama decide before there is a series winner. Fmr. Sen. Bob Graham (FL) was eliminated in the previous round.

Please discuss any v.p. candidates in the comments. The most correct format would be to state their name, unless you have further comments. I'm happy to hear all ideas in this open thread, and I'm no official gatekeeper, so play nice.

(continued below the fold)

Among the candidates who have been named on various short lists, Sam Nunn is probably the most vilified and despised among the netroots, even moreso than Hagel. There is good reason for this. The 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' was one of the most shameful episodes of the Clinton era, and Nunn's participation earned him a lifetime of scorn. Yet, for this very reason, the possibility of Nunn has been almost completely dismissed. Instead, we get dozens of unrealistically hopeful diaries about Wes Clark, as well as the usual conventional wisdom regarding Bayh and Kaine. The fact of the matter, however, is that the dominant perceptions here are not the same as those held over at Obama HQ. As Obama's reversal on FISA demonstrated, he is not the least bit apprehensive about pissing off the netroots, and with McCain's visible embrace of the Rovian far right, anti-McCain sentiment has become nearly as powerful a motivating force as pro-Obama sentiment (as demonstrated by the Democrats' superb fundraising numbers), giving Obama even less incentive to cater to his base. For this reason, I suspect Nunn is probably more likely than most think, and that sometime this week, we may see a sudden spike in the number of broken cell phones. The question, then, is this: can progressives learn to stop worrying and love the Nunn?

Welcome back for more speculation! Today continues the new final series of possibilities for Obama's v.p.

This series began with a new top 14 list of names I consider most likely to be named Obama's v.p. running mate, and we'll eliminate the bottom vote-getter each day until there is a winner, or a real-life winner is named by Obama. Starting today, candidates will be listed in order of votes from the previous poll, from most to least, so we'll have some idea of preference in this thread's voting should Obama decide before there is a series winner. Sen. Claire McCaskill (MO) was eliminated in the previous round.

Please discuss any v.p. candidates in the comments. The most correct format would be to state their name, unless you have further comments. I'm happy to hear all ideas in this open thread, and I'm no official gatekeeper, so play nice.

(continued below the fold)

Welcome back for more speculation! Today continues the new final series of possibilities for Obama's v.p.

This series began with a new top 14 list of names I consider most likely to be named Obama's v.p. running mate, and we'll eliminate the bottom vote-getter each day until there is a winner, or a real-life winner is named by Obama. Starting today, candidates will be listed in order of votes from the previous poll, from most to least, so we'll have some idea of preference in this thread's voting should Obama decide before there is a series winner. Sen. Sherrod Brown (OH) and Fmr. Sen. Sam Nunn (GA) were eliminated in the previous round.

Please discuss any v.p. candidates in the comments. The most correct format would be to state their name, unless you have further comments. I'm happy to hear all ideas in this open thread, and I'm no official gatekeeper, so play nice.

(continued below the fold)

Welcome back for more speculation! Today continues the new final series of possibilities for Obama's v.p.

This series began last time with a new top 14 list of names I consider most likely to be named Obama's v.p. running mate, and we'll eliminate the bottom vote-getter each day until there is a winner, or a real-life winner is named by Obama. Starting today, candidates will be listed in order of votes from the previous poll, from most to least, so we'll have some idea of preference in this thread's voting should Obama decide before there is a series winner. Sen. Jeff Bingaman (NM) was eliminated in the first round.

Please discuss any v.p. candidates in the comments. The most correct format would be to state their name, unless you have further comments. I'm happy to hear all ideas in this open thread, and I'm no official gatekeeper, so play nice.

(continued below the fold)

Welcome back for more speculation! Today concludes the final elimination series of possibilities for Obama's v.p., and starts a new one ("final final"?).

The previous series began with the bottom 14 names of 28, eliminated the lowest vote-getter(s) and replaced them with new name(s) from just up the list, reaveraging as we went (so each thread's bottom vote-getter[s] may not have been cut next--who was cut was determined by averages of all this series's votes). Since Obama will pick soon, we'll see if we'll have time to complete another round before we see if the DKos wisdom of crowds is. Gen. (Ret.) Wesley Clark (AR) defeated Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (KS) to win the previous series. Starting today we'll run the top 14 names I now consider most likely (I know I may be wrong). I was going to run Bayh against the winner of this series alone, but it was pointed out this would not be exactly fair, so since Bayh and Clark have now both made the cut for this series, I decided to skip that.

Please discuss any v.p. candidates in the comments. The most correct format would be to state their name, unless you have further comments. I'm happy to hear all ideas in this open thread, and I'm no official gatekeeper, so play nice.

(continued below the fold)

Welcome back for more speculation! Today continues the final elimination series of possibilities for Obama's v.p., now down to the final two.

This series began with the bottom 14 names of 28, eliminated the lowest vote-getter(s) and replaced them with new name(s) from just up the list, reaveraging as we went (so each thread's bottom vote-getter[s] may not have been cut next--who was cut was determined by averages of all this series's votes). If Obama doesn't pick soon, we'll have time for another round before we see if the DKos wisdom of crowds is. Sen. Joe Biden (MBNA) was eliminated in the previous round. The remaining candidates, in case Obama beats this series to the punch, are listed in the poll from the most to the least average votes in this series. So candidates near the bottom are likely to be eliminated in this round of voting, which adds a certain element of strategic voting. I am not saying that these are the most likely candidates: this is a poll of DKos preference among the 28 candidates we started with.

Please discuss any v.p. candidates in the comments. The most correct format would be to state their name, unless you have further comments. I'm happy to hear all ideas in this open thread, and I'm no official gatekeeper, so play nice.

(continued below the fold)

Welcome back for more speculation! Today continues the final elimination series of possibilities for Obama's v.p., now down to the final three.

This series began with the bottom 14 names of 28, eliminated the lowest vote-getter(s) and replaced them with new name(s) from just up the list, reaveraging as we went (so each thread's bottom vote-getter[s] may not have been cut next--who was cut was determined by averages of all this series's votes). If Obama doesn't pick soon, we'll have time for another round before we see if the DKos wisdom of crowds is. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (NY) was eliminated in the previous round. The remaining candidates, in case Obama beats this series to the punch, are listed in the poll from the most to the least average votes in this series. So candidates near the bottom are likely to be eliminated in this round of voting, which adds a certain element of strategic voting. I am not saying that these are the most likely candidates: this is a poll of DKos preference among the 28 candidates we started with.

Please discuss any v.p. candidates in the comments. The most correct format would be to state their name, unless you have further comments. I'm happy to hear all ideas in this open thread, and I'm no official gatekeeper, so play nice.

(continued below the fold)

Welcome back for more speculation! Today continues the final elimination series of possibilities for Obama's v.p.

This series began with the bottom 14 names of 28, eliminated the lowest vote-getter(s) and replaced them with new name(s) from just up the list, reaveraging as we went (so each thread's bottom vote-getter[s] may not have been cut--who was cut was determined by averages generated from this series's votes only). We're now to the point where candidates are only being eliminated. It looks like Obama won't pick soon, so we may have time for another round before we see if the DKos wisdom of crowds is. Gov. Tim Kaine (VA) was eliminated in the previous round. The remaining candidates, just in case Obama beats this series to the punch, are listed in the poll from the most average votes to the least average votes in this series. So candidates near the bottom are most likely to be eliminated in this round of voting, which adds a certain element of strategic voting.

Please discuss any v.p. candidates in the comments. The most correct format would be to state their name, unless you have further comments. I'm happy to hear all ideas in this open thread, and of course I'm no official gatekeeper, so play nice.

(continued below the fold)

Yes, another diary about my guy, Bayh.  I chose Sam Nunn for this point-by-point comparison because he, unlike Kaine/Sebelius, is far more likely to be seen by the nation as ready to be Commander in Chief(which is, y'know, sort of important in a Veep) while being less likely than Joe Biden to say something stupid.  For those of you wondering why I will not mention Wesley Clark(like those before who wondered why no one considered John Edwards as a potential Veep), the reason is simple; Wesley Clark is still best remembered for his remarks about John McCain, and he's definitely not being vetted(James Jones as a better chance than Wesley Clark).  So in no particular order;

Welcome back for more speculation! Today continues the final elimination series of possibilities for Obama's v.p.

This series began with the bottom 14 names of 28, eliminated the lowest vote-getter(s) and replaced them with new name(s) from just up the list, reaveraging as we went (so each thread's bottom vote-getter[s] may not have been cut--who was cut was determined by averages generated from this series's votes only). We're now to the point where candidates are only being eliminated. It looks like Obama won't pick soon, so we may have time for another round before we see if the DKos wisdom of crowds is. Sen. Russ Feingold (WI) was eliminated in the previous round. Fmr. Sen. John Edwards (NC) also left the series. The remaining candidates, just in case Obama beats this series to the punch, are listed in the poll from the most average votes to the least average votes in this series. So candidates near the bottom are most likely to be eliminated in this round of voting, which adds a certain element of strategic voting.

Please discuss any v.p. candidates in the comments. The most correct format would be to state their name, unless you have further comments. I'm happy to hear all ideas in this open thread, and of course I'm no official gatekeeper, so play nice.

(continued below the fold)

Welcome back for more speculation! Today we'll continue the final elimination series of possibilities for Obama's v.p.

This series began with the bottom 14 names, eliminated the bottom vote-getter(s) and replaced them with new name(s) from just up the list, reaveraging as we went (so each thread's bottom vote-getter[s] may not have been the ones cut--who was cut was determined by averages generated from this series's votes only). We're now to the point where candidates are not being rotated in, but only being eliminated. It looks like Obama won't pick very soon, so we may have time for another round before we see if the DKos wisdom of crowds is. Rep. Robert Wexler (FL) was eliminated in the previous round. The remaining candidates, just in case Obama beats this series to the punch, are now listed in the poll from the most average votes to the least average votes in this series. So candidates near the bottom are most likely to be eliminated in this round of voting, which adds a certain element of strategic voting.

Please discuss any v.p. candidates in the comments. The most correct format would be to state their name, unless you have further comments. I'm happy to hear all ideas in this open thread, and of course I'm no official gatekeeper, so play nice.

(continued below the fold)

Welcome back for more speculation! Today we'll continue the final elimination series of possibilities for Obama's v.p.

This series began with the bottom 14 names, eliminated the bottom vote-getter(s) and replaced them with new name(s) from just up the list, reaveraging as we went (so each thread's bottom vote-getter[s] may not have been the ones cut--who was cut was determined by averages generated from this series's votes only). We're now to the point where candidates are not being rotated in, but only being eliminated. I'm hoping we'll have five or six candidates left when Obama picks and see if the DKos wisdom of crowds is. Sen. Sherrod Brown (OH) was eliminated in the previous round. The remaining candidates, just in case Obama beats this series to the punch, are now listed in the poll from the most average votes to the least average votes in this series. So candidates near the bottom are most likely to be eliminated in this round of voting, which adds a certain element of strategic voting.

Please discuss any v.p. candidates in the comments. The most correct format would be to state their name, unless you have further comments. I'm happy to hear all ideas in this open thread, and of course I'm no official gatekeeper, so play nice.

(continued below the fold)

Welcome back for more speculation! Today we'll continue the final elimination series of possibilities for Obama's v.p.

This series began with the bottom 14 names, eliminated the bottom vote-getter(s) and replaced them with new name(s) from just up the list, reaveraging as we went (so each thread's bottom vote-getter[s] may not have been the ones cut--who was cut was determined by averages generated from this series's votes only). We're now to the point where candidates are not being rotated in, but only being eliminated. I'm hoping we'll have five or six candidates left when Obama picks and see if the DKos wisdom of crowds is. Fmr. Vice President Al Gore (TN) was eliminated in the previous round. The remaining candidates, just in case Obama beats this series to the punch, are now listed in the poll from the most average votes to the least average votes in this series. So candidates near the bottom are most likely to be eliminated in this round of voting, which adds a certain element of strategic voting.

Please discuss any v.p. candidates in the comments. The most correct format would be to state their name, unless you have further comments. I'm happy to hear all ideas in this open thread, and of course I'm no official gatekeeper, so play nice.

(continued below the fold)

I am a law professor and sometimes to drill a point home I use outrageous and totally implausible examples to drill home a real world point.   As all of us debate how certain VP picks will cause us to abandon Obama (or merely vote for him but withdraw our enthusiastic support by not volunteering or contributing to his campaign), I want to say that VP candidates don’t really matter than much.  I will use some extreme examples to illustrate my point.

Let’s assume that Obama picks a person who is extremely disappointing to most of us on the left and also assume that McCain picks a person who, even those of us on the left, could live with.  I am not saying that his will happen, but rather asking, if it did, how would it change your votes in November.