Yeah, I know I'm breaking ground with a vp diary, but we've been hashing it out in our house. I dreamed of Al Gore harnessing up again, but I think it will be Hillary and I think that's not a bad choice.
There are several reasons to argue that Hillary will be VP.
- You have to assume that the election is going to be tight. There are enough Hillary diehards withholding judgement about Obama to argue that her place on the ticket can sway the race two to four points. Maybe those folks come along anyway after the convention, but can you risk it?
- The PUMA people are silly, but my parents have friends who were ardent Hillary supporters who can't forgive Obama. They will likely vote for him, but they represent that demographic that has eluded Obama: the over 55 vote. Biden's appeal is that old people trust him somewhat. They trust Hillary and the Clintons more.
- For reason #2, I think Hillary delivers Florida in the same way Johnson delivered Texas for Kennedy.
- Obama has a ground team in every state but one: Arkansas.
- The people who hate Hillary have already switched to McCain. His scorched earth tactics have invigorated his base some. The Hillary-Haters have come home to McCain. The casual Hillary hater probably feels reluctant about Obama anyway. Does she cost him votes?
- It's been a long time since the primaries. The statements about the convention suggest that the two sides have learned to deal with each other more maturely.
The obstacles are two fold: How does she square her Iraq vote with his position? And is she too "inside-the-Beltway?
The first is tricky. Maybe that's why they floated Bayh, so she would look better in comparison to those of us who cared enough about her war vote to work against her.
The second is easy, because she would be America's first female vice president.
Let me end by saying, she is NOT my first choice. But Al Gore is too busy being Eco-Messiah to be Vice Messiah. John Edwards and his penis sidelined himself. And they've side-lined Wes Clark. For some reason Bob Graham is always out of the picture.
But she would create a stir, and he's waited so long, he needs to drop a big name.
I realize that she engendered a lot of ill will around her because of her tactics during the primaries. I shared in that. Water under the bridge if need be.
But she can always bring Penn back to work over McCain-Pawlenty.