Assuming that an Obama-Clinton ticket is a good thing, but that
neither candidate would want to hold their nose and pop the question:
let the Convention decide. Throw it open to the delegates. This is
what Adlai Stevenson did in 1956. He and Estes Kefauver had fiercely
contested for the presidential nomination; but once Adlai had it, he
gave the VP decision to the convention. At that point, Kefauver and
John F. Kennedy scrambled for delegate votes, and Kefauver won in a
squeaker. Doing likewise in 2008 would have the advantage of:
1) Creating an O-C ticket by popular demand, rather than Obama himself
having to choose Clinton and her baggage, good and bad;
2) Adding more interest and suspense to a convention, in lieu of the
coronations they have long since become;
3) Cementing the reunification of the Democratic Party's two main
factions & genders by will of the delegates;
4) Restoring a patina of democracy to the vice-presidency, rather than
Putinesque prize which it has been most of the time.
Below the fold, I'll recycle some thoughts on VP contests from my
diary of last June.
Traditionally, candidates loudly shun any thought that they'd be #2.
But once the top slot is filled, there is a brief scramble to be
running mate, albeit totally at the whim of #1. The vice-presidency is
demeaned because, (a) it is despised by the main runners, and (b) it
is an undemocratic prerogative of the presidential candidate.
Some recent exceptions to this pattern could also be a trivia
question: "Who has actually run for Vice President in modern times
prior to selection?" At least five:
1956: Adlai Stevenson threw the choice over the Democratic Convention;
John F. Kennedy Jr. and Estes Kefauver contested; Kefauver barely won.
1972: Alaska Democratic Senator Mike Gravel nominated himself [well,
seconded, he says] for VP (and might have saved McGovern from the
Eagleton fiasco...)
1976: Before the Republican Convention, Ronald Reagan announced that
moderate Pennsylvania Senator Richard Schweiker would be his running
mate, and they did some joint campaigning.
1992: Former Massachusetts Governor Endicott Peabody, Democrat, ran a
declared campaign for the vice presidency.
These instances suggest several possibilities:
1) That the national convention, not the presidential candidate,
choose the VP;
or 2) That the presidential candidate propose several names for the
Convention to choose among;
[Those two ideas might restore some interest to the convention--if
indeed that is to be desired.]
or 3) That any presidential candidate not scorn the vice-presidency,
but evince willingness to serve in either office;
or 4) That one or more teams offer themselves as a presidential /
vice-presidential ticket in the pre-convention period;
or 5) That the presidential candidate present his/her cabinet choices
in advance of the convention and election. The team would already be
in place, and further add to the campaign repertoire of surrogates.